Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation and Blue Ridge Conservancy Unveil Camp Catawba Sign

Today in Blowing Rock, the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation and Blue Ridge Conservancy unveiled a sign commemorating Camp Catawba and the work of Dr. Vera Lachmann. Installed near the trailhead of the Middle Fork Greenway in front of the Tanger Outlets, the sign outlines the history of the boys’ summer camp, which operated on a farm in Blowing Rock from 1944 to 1970. This one of a kind sign, funded by the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, was fabricated by local metalsmith Aaron Bishop of Snake Mountain Iron Works.

“We’re so honored to bring the stories of Dr. Lachmann and the young campers to a larger audience through this project,” said Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation CEO Carolyn Ward. “Though Camp Catawba is now part of the Blue Ridge Parkway, the impact and importance of this formative place reaches far beyond the park’s borders.”

Local supporters of the Middle Fork Greenway and of historical conservation efforts joined the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation and Blue Ridge Conservancy on a glorious Friday afternoon to celebrate the installation of the commemorative Camp Catawba sign.

According to Wendy Patoprsty, Director of the Middle Fork Greenway: “Honoring the memory of Camp Catawba along the Middle Fork Greenway makes sense because Dr. Vera Lachmann's vision goes hand in hand with what Blue Ridge Conservancy's mission is today - to provide outdoor access to enhance residents and visitors quality of life.”

Information included on the sign:

Camp Catawba
At Camp Catawba, the boys benefitted from the community and fellowship founder Vera Lachmann created. According to the camp brochure, “Tolerance, cooperation, and a sense of beauty are fostered in all camp life.” She integrated the camp and practiced the inclusion she did not find in her home country. Lachmann taught the classics, reciting The Illiad and The Odyssey by Homer in alternating summers and directing plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles, Aristophanes, and Shakespeare.

“Ev’ry valley shall be exalted…”
The campers went on hikes to Thunder Hill along the Blue Ridge Parkway, and rode in a truck to the base of Grandfather Mountain where they hiked to several of its peaks. They played sports and swam in a spring-fed pond. Most of the campers were from New York and Washington and many had fled Nazi Germany. A few were so surprised to meet boys from South Carolina or Georgia that they asked which country they had come from.

“If music be the food of love, play on…”
The camp’s music program was run by Lachmann’s companion and partner, composer Tui St. George Tucker. The activities included a choir that sang everything from Gregorian chant to spirituals, and an orchestra that performed works of Haydn, Beethoven, and Schubert.

Dr. Vera Lachmann, Poet, Educator, Classicist (1904-1985)
In Germany, she started a school for Jewish and Jewish-Christian children expelled from public schools after the Nazi party took control in 1933. She fled the country soon after the Nazis closed her school in 1939, and sought refuge in the United States at the beginning of World War II. In 1944 Vera bought about 20 acres near Blowing Rock, North Carolina. For decades, the Blue Ridge Mountains served as an enriching backdrop and classroom for the summer campers. Vera was the driving force behind the camp until its final summer in 1970. Lachmann died in 1985.

An account from a former camper:
https://www.brpfoundation.org/blog/remembering-camp-catawba

Middle Fork Greenway Director Wendy Patoprsty addressed the crowd about the impact of Camp Catawba and the eventual placement of the sign nearer the camp's original location on the Middle Fork Greenway.