From the National Forests of North Carolina:

The USDA Forest Service invites the public to visit a reconstructed campsite of the early 1900s at the Cradle of Forestry near Brevard on October 8.

“Camping in the Old Style” will be presented by the Traditional Outdoor Skills Program of The Schiele Museum of Natural History in Gastonia, N.C. Steve Watts, noted primitive skills educator and practitioner from The Schiele, will be joined by special guest David Wescott of Rexburg, Idaho. Westcott, author of the modern outdoor classic Camping in the Old Style, and other trained campers will demonstrate skills once commonly used outdoors. Both scholars are strong proponents of low tech/high skill camping as practiced between the 1880s and 1930s, what some consider the Golden Age of Camping.

The group will begin setting up their camps on Friday afternoon, October 7, in the corral along the Cradle’s Biltmore Campus Trail. Saturday, October 8, will be a full day of camp activity. Visitors can see fire by flint, steel and friction, old-style campfire cookery, four different styles of period shelters, and traditional camp tools in use. Each camper has expertise in various aspects of woodcraft, history and nature study, and welcomes questions from visitors.

During this time in history, the Pisgah National Forest was in its infancy, and city folk were discovering the joys of outdoor recreation. It was a time when camping meant sleeping under canvas and cooking over an open fire. Amidst the wood smoke and surrounded by outdoor gear of a by-gone era, the traditional skills of camp and trail will be practiced in their proper setting.

The Cradle of Forestry is open daily from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Admission is $5.00 for adults. Youth age 15 and under are admitted free. America the Beautiful passes and Golden Age and Access passports are honored. The fee includes this event as well as the 30-minute story film, There’s Magic at the Cradle, hands-on exhibits, historic cabins and antique equipment along two paved interpretive trails. For more information, call the Cradle of Forestry at (828) 877-3130 or visit www.cradleofforestry.org.