“Camping in the Old Style” Recreated at the Cradle of Forestry

The Cradle of Forestry in America invites the public to explore a

recreated campsite of the early 1900s during its “Camping in the Old Style” event, Saturday,

October 10th. A classic camping interpretive team known as the Acorn Patrol demonstrates

the low-tech/high-skill approach as practiced in the outdoors during what some historians

consider the Golden Age of Camping.

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 bygone day, the traditional skills of camping will be practiced in the Cradle of

Forestry’s scenic setting in the corral along the Biltmore Campus Trail.

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 interacting with

visitors and answering questions.

“Camping in the Old Style” is inspired by Horace Kephart, author of Camping and

Woodcraft, originally published in 1906. Kephart’s approach to enjoying the outdoors holds

lessons for today’s modern campers.

The Cradle of Forestry is open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Admission is $12.00 for

adults, $6 for children ages 4-12, and free for youth under age 4.

For more information about this event and other upcoming programs, visit

www.gofindoutdoors.org.

Community event in Pisgah Forest, NC 28768.