Camp Fincastle, a once-popular camp in Botetourt County that has been closed for several years, could soon be bustling once again with young campers -- and horseback riders.

A Virginia Beach entrepreneur has bought the 476-acre property for nearly $1.5 million and hopes to reopen it for camping groups and horseback riding lessons as early as next year. Sylvia Estes, owner of Pipeline and Industrial Group Inc. in Virginia Beach, said she also hopes to open the camp -- and its giant lodge -- to hunters this winter.

"I dreamed about this place years ago and found out about it a few weeks ago," said Estes, who also owns the Cypress Creek Equestrian Farm in Virginia Beach. "God laid it on my heart that this is something I was supposed to do."

Estes' plan calls for the scenic site to accommodate a variety of users over the summer. She said she envisions band camps, volleyball camps, soccer camps, Boy Scout groups and survival camps for kids, with each camp running about two weeks.

Meanwhile, she said, she plans to move her Cypress Creek horse farm to the camp, stabling horses on-site and offering horseback riding lessons.

The camp, about 20 miles outside Roanoke, features a 5-acre, spring-fed lake with docks, two dormitories, 12 cabins, a pavilion, amphitheater, a 5,000-square-foot lodge and a 5,500-square-foot picnic shelter with restrooms.

The camp was sold to Estes by the Lynchburg-based Presbytery of the Peaks, which oversees 138 Presbyterian congregations in Virginia. The presbytery, looking to build a camp closer to the center of the territory it oversees, put Camp Fincastle up for sale in 2003 for $2.65 million.

But after years of failing to find a buyer, the presbytery put the camp up for auction last weekend. Estes' company outbid several other bidders, said Alice Smith, chairwoman of the presbytery's trustees. "We're very happy with that," she added. "It's been a primary responsibility of mine to sell Camp Fincastle."

Estes' main company, Pipeline and Industrial Group, does general contracting work and also offers disaster-recovery services to the U.S. Navy. If a major disaster strikes the state, she said, her disaster-recovery team will use Camp Fincastle as a base of operations. She said she hopes to take the camp completely off the electric grid, using methane digesters to create gas for the camp.

Repair work and upgrades could begin in two weeks, she said. "It'll be fully functional next year."