A Very Special PlaceBeech Haven Camp for Girls
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Louise Rosson CarneyLouise Rosson Carney, a native of Springfield, Tennessee, freelance writer and former journalist, lives in Daphne on Alabama's Gulf Coast with her husband, Robert Carney. She has been editor of the SPRINGFIELD HERALD, was formerly on staff of the NASHVILLE BANNER, and also freelanced during 16 years residence in Satellite Beach, Florida for MELBOURNE TIMES, COCOA TRIBUNE, and FLORIDA TODAY.For a number of years the Carneys vacationed in the mountains of North Carolina, and it was Louise Carney's poignant memories of summers that she spent as a girl at Beech Haven Camp in Banner Elk that prompted her to write "A Very Special Place." Mrs. Carney's son, Joe Rosson Pepper, lives in Nashville, Tennessee. She survives her son William Louis Pepper, formerly of Bigfork, Montana. She is a member of the Ecor Rouge Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, St. Paul's Episcopal Church, and the Mobile Branch of the National League of American Pen Women. |
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About the Book |
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Introduction:This story about Beech Haven was almost meant to be.I have many happy memories of the summers spent as a camper at Beech Haven, and when it came time to decide where to spend our retirement summers, Banner Elk was the first choice. At that time, no thought was given to writing a book about camp, but in the summer of 1995, while vacationing in the nearby Village of Seven Devils, I read a story in the local paper about "Remembering Other Summers." Having been a writer for most of my adult life, it occurred to me that I might write a short piece on Beech Haven, as I remembered it, and submit it to the paper. A nostalgic piece. Short and to the point. In the library at Lees-McRae College, I was surprised and pleased to find four old camp catalogs, 1929, '30, '31, and '32, gold mines of information on early campers and counselors. I also learned that only the day before, the present owner of the camp had been in on the same mission, but not for the purpose of writing a book. His interest had been intrigued by a visit the week before, when he was out of town, by two women, one of whom left word that she had been married in front of the stone fireplace in the original lodge in June of 1936. That bit of information was all I needed to arouse my interest and curiosity. At the invitation of the owners, Bud and Sylvia Hahn, I visited Irmolot Lodge, as it is now named, and was shown over the old site. And I found much that remained of the camp. The Cabin nearest the lake is still there, and in good condition; a smaller dam now holds back the lake that is stocked with trout, and although the original lodge is gone, the stone fireplace remains with a concrete floor and a tin roof, making it an open air pavilion. And the area where the tennis courts were, and where horse shows were held, when I saw it in July, was a well-kept smooth green lawn. The owner gave me the names and the telephone numbers of his visitors of the previous week. I had no idea who they were, but that night I made two phone calls, and to my delight, I spoke with Frankie Brown McClure and her daughter, Sallie McClure Upchurch, in Huntsville, Alabama. Frankie, the younger sister of the camp director, Glenn McCoy, and my counselor during my last year at camp, had been in Banner Elk at the same time I was there, and she had also visited the camp. After all these years, she and I were drawn back to camp at almost exactly the same time. It was then I knew it would not be a short piece for the local paper that I would write, but a story of Beech Haven, as nearly complete as I could make it. |
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