Places can be inspiring, and Western North Carolina boasts quite a few. Nestled in the mountains in Blowing Rock, Camp Catawba, a summer camp operating between 1945 and 1970, inspired its founder, Vera Lachmann, and her partner, Tui St. George Tucker, in a variety of ways. A poem Lachmann wrote for Tucker expresses that for them, Catawba is “more magnificent than imagination.” In this talk, Shulstad will provide a brief history of Lachmann’s founding of the camp and its mission. Then she will share the poetry and music created by Lachmann and Tucker that reflect their passion for Catawba, and the ways in which they constructed an artistic community within that place that nurtured the creativity of the campers.
