On March 12, 1912, Juliette Gordon Low founded Girl Scouts of the United States in Savannah, Georgia with 12 girls. Former Girl Scout Council of the Catawba Valley Area President Nillah Cody wrote in 1964, "Lone Girl Scout troops were active in Hickory and the surrounding areas in the early 1920s and the leaders gradually got together to pool information and to help each other. Town and community groups were formed as a result.

Fire destroyed many of the old records, but as the Girl Scout membership grew in this area, remaining records show that in 1947 three counties — Alexander, Catawba, and Iredell, plus Granite Falls — joined together to form the Catawba Valley Area Girl Scout Council, Inc. Mrs. F.E. Peebles was the first council president and the council became an official part of the Girl Scouts of the USA, as they received a council charter from the national organization."

By 1949, 850 Girl Scouts were registered in the council area. By 1957, there were 639 registered Girl Scouts in Catawba County alone and the council had expanded to 1,751 registered Girl Scouts in the counties of Alexander, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, and Iredell. Today, the Catawba Valley Area Girl Scout Council also encompasses Ashe and Watauga counties. The council now serves more than 5,000 girls, ages five through seventeen, of all ethnic backgrounds and abilities.

Board member Nillah Cody has been a Girl Scout for more than 50 years. In 1945, she entered a Girl Scout Troop at First United Methodist Church when she was in the fourth grade. "Our council didn't have a camp at the time," explains Mrs. Cody, "I remember going to Camp Linn-Haven in Linville, which we rented. We would get on the bus in front of City Hall, which is now the theater, and go to camp for about a week. We hiked and swam in the river. The water was so cold it took your breath away. We also made nature crafts and worked on badges."

Mrs. Cody became a Girl Scout Troop Leader in the late 1970s when her daughters joined Girl Scouts. Then in 1981, she was elected President of the Board of Directors, an office which she held until 1987. Mrs. Cody explains how Girl Scouting has changed over the years. "Now, Girl Scouting prepares girls for today's world so much better, not just how to cook and clean. They learn computers, astronomy, and auto mechanics. The girls also come from so many facets of life. They need something to center their life on. Girl Scout Leaders are so important to the girls."

Two of her Girl Scout Troop Leaders, Mrs. Henry Brown and Mrs. Jimmy Barnes still attend First United Methodist Church. Mrs. Brown became a Troop Leader in the 1940s when her first daughter entered Girl Scouts. She shares her happy memories of Girl Scouting. "I am so thankful to have been involved in Girl Scouting and to have my daughters involved. The girls learned a lot of things by being a Girl Scout. I thought it was really great and a lot of fun. The girls really enjoyed it, and they learned a lot of things that they wouldn't have learned otherwise. I look at some girls now and think 'They could really use Girl Scouts.' I really enjoyed working with the girls. Sometimes it was a little difficult, but you know anything is if it's any good. It was a great thing to do, and I was happy to do it."

The Girl Scout Council of the Catawba Valley Area built Camp Ginger Cascades in Lenoir in 1963. The camp earned its name from the cascades that flow through Ginger Creek on the camp's site. Over the years, thousands of campers have enjoyed sliding down the cascades. In the early years, the camp consisted of an open field — now called Mary Leach Hollow — where tents were pitched and activities took place, Ginger Creek, and the wooded area surrounding it. Now the 226 acre camp hosts cabins, platform tents, treehouses, an artificial outdoor climbing wall, lake, challenge course, arts and crafts facility, dining hall, infirmary, swimming pool, and several hiking and mountain biking trails.

In 1983 the first campers at Camp Ginger Cascades reunited to unearth a time capsule that they buried in 1963. Those original campers who were present were Sue Avery Douglas, Susan Ratcliff, Susan Corley Paris, June Roston, Teresa Forsyth, Lynn Pollard, Betty Graham Burris, Alice Graham James, Mary Leach, Jean Ervin, Tom Ervin, and Mary Lynn Pollard. The first encampment in 1963 had two two-week sessions, and the Girl Scouts wrote their wishes for the future of camp. Ashes from the fire they built and the campers' wishes were buried in a copper box. After the opening of the time capsule, each camper was given a special marking pen to re-write their names on the rocks which they had signed and placed around the time capsule in 1963.

Current Council CEO/President, Susan G. Ratcliff, CGSCEO, is proud to be part of a family in which four generations of women have been part of Girl Scouting. Her grandmother, Harriet Genevieve Button Grabill, attended the Girl Scout Silver Jubilee in 1937, which was held at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York and featured Honorary Girl Scout President Eleanor Roosevelt as the guest speaker. Ms. Ratcliff's mother, Barbara Louise Grabill Ratcliff, was a Girl Scout as a child and later became her daughter's Troop Leader. Susan Ratcliff has been a Girl Scout member in this area since childhood. She was a volunteer before she was hired in 1983 to the council staff. Her daughter, Stephanie Marie Ross, became the fourth generation Girl Scout when she entered Brownie Troop 16 in 1981.