Full announcement from U.S. Forest Service:

PISGAH FOREST, N.C., Oct. 4, 2012 - The U.S. Forest Service invites the public to attend "Camping in the Old Style," a re-created campsite of the early 1900s at the Cradle of Forestry near Brevard, N.C., on Oct. 13.

During this time in history, the Pisgah National Forest was in its infancy. 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. Here in the wood smoke, surrounded by the outdoor gear of a by-gone day, the traditional skills of camping and hiking will be practiced in their proper setting.

"Camping in the Old Style" will be presented by the Traditional Outdoor Skills Program, The Schiele Museum of Natural History, Gastonia, N.C. Steve Watts, noted primitive skills educator and practitioner from The Schiele, has been teaching traditional camping workshops for a number of years. He and his classic camping team demonstrate the low-tech/high-skill approach as practiced in the outdoors between the 1880s and 1920s, what some consider the Golden Age of Camping.

The group will begin setting up their camp on Friday afternoon, Oct. 12, in the corral along the Cradle's Biltmore Campus Trail. Saturday, Oct. 13, will be a full day of camp activity. Visitors can see fires ignited 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.

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, please call the Cradle of Forestry at (828) 877-3130 or visit http://www.cradleofforestry.org.