RBC and the Brevard Music Center

Here’s a cool bit of Rockbrook Camp history for you. Nancy Barnum Clarke Carrier, the founder of Rockbrook (and who by the way is the great grandaughter of P.T. Barnum), is also one of the founders of the Brevard Music Center. The Music Center is a summer camp in Brevard for teenage musicians who come to collaborate with professional musicians, practice, perform, and just enjoy the wonderful mountain setting of Brevard. It was originally founded in 1936 at Davidson College and later moved to Brevard in 1945, only a few years after Rockbrook was established in 1921. Mrs. Carrier was also the Music Center’s first president and a director of its board until her death in 1977. Here she is in this great old photo.

Summer Camp Information

Here’s something cool— it’s the cover page from the 1925 camp catalog. Rockbrook’s first summer was in 1921, so this is very early in the history of the camp. You can see the founders listed right there on the bottom: Nancy Clarke Carrier and Henry Carrier, her husband. No doubt the photo is a canoeing trip on the French Broad River at the foot of camp.

Overnight Camp Hiking Photos

For the third in our series of archival overnight camp photos, we have this great scene of four girls ready for a short hike at camp. Being so different from today’s look, it’s neat to see the hair styles and the different things they’re wearing.