New Appalahcian State University Internship Program Focuses On The Blue Ridge Parkway

The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, in coordination with Appalachian State University, is pleased to announce Amy Renfranz as an intern working this summer on a historic resource survey at Camp Catawba. The camp’s grounds, including its near century-old chestnut lodge, are bounded by the Blue Ridge Parkway on one side and the Moses H. Cone Memorial Park on the other. From 1944 to 1970, Camp Catawba operated as a boys’ camp, located between Boone and Blowing Rock. Vera Lachmann, a professor of classics who fled Germany in the late 1930s, established the camp in 1944. She directed a camp that had a strong emphasis on the arts.
Dr. Neva Jean Specht, Assistant Chair for the ASU Department of History and the ASU/Blue Ridge Parkway Liaison, described Renfranz’s responsibilities. “Her main responsibilities will be researching the cultural significance in the context of American history of Camp Catawba,” says Specht. “By using criteria established by the National Register of Historic Places.”
Renfranz, who will gradate with Honors from ASU this August, explored the literature of national parks in her senior thesis. An admirer of the National Parks, Renfranz has worked at the Parkway Craft Center at the Moses Cone Estate for the last two years as well as volunteering on other Blue Ridge Parkway projects. Her career goal is to work for the National Park Service. “In reading about Camp Catawba site, I found that I already had a deep interest in the camp, and I know that interpretation can provide people with reasons to care about these unique places by relating information in a way that invokes interest and curiosity.”
Research of Camp Catawba will encompass various primary resources including deed work and library research of archived newspapers, according to Specht. Renfranz will compile a written report outlining how Camp Catawba meets the criteria of a National Historic Place, and submit the report to the Blue Ridge Parkway for review.
Specht will be supervising Renfranz throughout her internship along with Dr. Rennie Brantz, a Professor of History and Director of the Center for Judaic, Holocaust and Peace Studies at Appalachian State.
“The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation was instrumental in making this internship happen,” says Specht. “We had some really top candidates and Amy Renfranz rose to the top of the pool.”
The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation also worked with the Camp Catawba Fund board to help raise funds for the internship as well as to foster support.
“I hope this is the first of many coordinated efforts between ASU and the Foundation,” says Specht, “as well as for the Blue Ridge Parkway so students can gain practical experience and conduct needed projects for the Foundation and the Parkway.”