The camp would end each summer by inviting to the Blowing Rock community to free performances of advanced works like the one described in this 1965 invitation.
Camp Catawba’s founder and director, Vera Lachmann, carried her passion for educating youth in the fine arts from Nazi Germany to the High Country of WNC. Her longtime partner, Tui St. George Tucker, served as Catawba’s music director.
Vera Lachmann
Tui St. George Tucker
Catawba’s campers trained intensely in music and theater.
Days at Camp Catawba started at the Mainhouse or early classes, hearty breakfasts, and planning for days of music classes and more traditional camp activities.
The Catawbans enjoyed the full complement of summer camp adventures and amusements, from a rudimentary but functional swimming pool to ...
... regular field trips to local destinations like Grandfather Mountain.
Throughout the varied activities at Camp Catawba, Vera Lachmann was a constant. Despite an old leg injury that slowed her pace, she insisted on taking arduous hikes, like the one shown here, with her campers.
The boys at Camp Catawba were hardly a genteel set. They were no strangers to playing hard and rowdy despite their training in drama, music, and art. In conversations with camp historian Charles Miller, some marveled that their daredevil antics didn’t leave them with serious injuries.
Campers recall being enraptured with Lachmann’s storytelling, especially her renditions of Greek classics told as they prepared for sleep.
