Presented by the Appalachian State University Office of University Advancement Partnerships

Join App State’s Dr. Neva J. Specht for an in-depth look at Camp Catawba. This presentation will highlight founder Vera Lachmann’s vision for the camp, stories about their adventures, and the importance of the camp to the attendees as they became adults.

Lachmann escaped Nazi Germany to immigrate to the United States. She was a trained classicist, taught kindergarten in Germany, and became an academic in the United States. In the summers, she turned an old chicken farm into a “groovy summer camp” for young boys.

Less than a mile from the Cone Estate, the camp sprung up each summer so young boys could learn about Homer’s Odyssey, hike in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and discover music and art. Vera and her partner, Tui St. George Tucker (the camp’s music director), ran the camp from 1944 to 1970.

Specht serves as acting provost at App State. Previously, she served as Senior Vice Provost of Academic Affairs and is the former Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and Professor of History at the university.

A native Iowan, she received her B.A. from Grinnell College and her M.A., Museum Studies Certification, and Ph.D. from the University of Delaware.

For six years, she served as the App State University Liaison to the Blue Ridge Parkway. During that time, she completed a Historic Furnishing Report for the Blowing Rock home of Moses and Bertha Cone for the National Park Service (NPS), directed two National Endowment for the Humanities Landmarks workshops on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and conducted a number of oral histories for the NPS including interviews with former CCC workers for King’s Mountain National Military Park.