BOONE—Amy Renfranz has been selected by the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation to work this summer on a historic resource survey at Camp Catawba. Renfranz, a senior English major and journalism minor at Appalachian State University, will complete her degree in English this summer. She is from Okeechobee, Fla.

Camp Catawba’s grounds, including its near century-old chestnut lodge, are bounded by the Blue Ridge Parkway on one side and the Moses H. Cone Memorial Park on the other. From 1944 to 1970, Camp Catawba operated as a boys’ camp, located between Boone and Blowing Rock. Vera Lachmann, a professor of classics who fled Germany in the late 1930s, established the camp in 1944. She directed a camp that had a strong emphasis on the arts.

Dr. Neva Jean Specht, assistant chair of Appalachian’s Department of History and the Appalachian State University/Blue Ridge Parkway Liaison, said Renfranz will use criteria established by the National Register of Historic Places to research the cultural significance of Camp Catawba in the context of American history.

Renfranz explored the literature of the national parks in her senior thesis. An admirer of the national parks, Renfranz has worked at the Parkway Craft Center at the Moses Cone Estate for the last two years and has volunteered on other Blue Ridge Parkway projects. Her career goal is to work for the National Park Service.

“In reading about the Camp Catawba site, I found that I had a deep interest in the camp, and I know that interpretation can provide people with reasons to care about these unique places by relating information in a way that invokes interest and curiosity,” she said.

Research of Camp Catawba will encompass various primary resources including deed work and library research of archived newspapers, according to Specht. Renfranz will compile a written report outlining how Camp Catawba meets the criteria of a National Historic Place, and submit the report to the Blue Ridge Parkway for review.

Specht will supervise Renfranz throughout her internship, along with Dr. Rennie Brantz, a professor of history and director of the Center for Judaic, Holocaust and Peace Studies at Appalachian.

“The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation was instrumental in making this internship happen,” Specht said. “We had some really top candidates and Amy Renfranz rose to the top of the pool.”

The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation also worked with the Camp Catawba Fund board to help raise funds for the internship.

“I hope this is the first of many coordinated efforts between Appalachian, the foundation as well as the Blue Ridge Parkway so students can gain practical experience and conduct needed projects for the foundation and the parkway,” Specht said.

For more information, contact Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation Executive Director Houck Medford at (336) 721-0260 or hmedford@brpfoundation.org

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Additional Information:
The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation is an independent non-profit and the primary and professional fundraising organization for the Blue Ridge Parkway. The Foundation promotes stewardship of the Blue Ridge Parkway and, among its programs, maintains the Camp Catawba Fund and two endowments that support projects at the Moses H. Cone Memorial Park and maintenance of the estate’s carriage trails. For more information on projects and programs happening on the Blue Ridge Parkway, visit brpfoundation.org/projects.php or contact the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation at (336) 721-0260.