Campers at Rockbrook Camp in Brevard, NC sing around the campfire in the 1950s. Archival images and objects from local summer camps will be on display this summer at CHS’s new exhibit, “Campfires & the Embers of Youth: The History of Summer Camps in Western North Carolina.”
Cashiers Historical Society’s Jan Wyatt Symposium, “Campfires & the Embers of Youth: The History of Summer Camps in Western North Carolina,” will be held from 10:00 A.M. until 3:00 P.M. on Thursday, June 19.
The symposium will include a slate of speakers and presentations, panel discussions, activities, and a catered lunch at Chimney Pond Farm in Glenville.
Amelia Golcheski, Executive Director of the Cashiers Historical Society, says, “The Jan Wyatt Symposium is an opportunity to spend a day diving deep into a single topic. This year’s topic allows us to discuss the myriad ways that summer camps have shaped the social, economic, and cultural history of Western North Carolina.”
An accompanying museum exhibit will be open to the public and free of charge on the Cashiers Historical Society campus June 16 through October 31. This exhibit will focus on the history of overnight camps in Western North Carolina founded before 1970.
Exhibit curator and the director of Operations and Visitor Experience at the Cashiers Historical Society Lindsay Garner Hostetler says, “It’s been exciting to be on the forefront of new research to bring this story of Western North Carolina’s importance to the American camping movement to life. I’m thrilled to be able to tell the story visually through fun and dynamic displays that will appeal to visitors of all ages.”
Cashiers Historical Society presented the first Jan Wyatt Symposium in 2005. In the years since, the Historical Society has continued its mission to preserve the history of the Cashiers Valley area through education by sponsoring an annual symposium. The featured topics have ranged from historical figures and geological issues to cultural aspects of the region. Previous symposia highlighted traditional mountain music, heirloom gardens, and the history of tourism in the area.
Tickets are available at cashiershistoricalsociety.org or by calling (828) 743-7710.
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