Balls Creek Camp meeting oral history collection [electronic resource], 2002 August 24.

ArchivalResource

Balls Creek Camp Meeting (149th : 2002 : Catawba County, N.C.). Balls Creek Camp meeting oral history collection [electronic resource], 2002 August 24.

Balls Creek Camp meeting oral history collection [electronic resource], 2002 August 24.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/650531681

The interviews held at the 149th Balls Creek Camp Meeting were sponsored by the Catawba Lands Conservancy to reach the region's diverse rural populations, increase awareness of rural attitudes toward land, and consider conservation issues. The interviewer, Mr. Cumming, was also interested in learning about the local community perspective of the Balls Creek area. His main interviewees were members of the Harbison and Ewing families. People at the meeting unanimously viewed the gathering as a great opportunity to get together with their extended families. They enjoyed seeing the same people every year, as well as the services and singing. The interviewees shared stories of how Balls Creek got its name and the origin of the wooden huts called "tents," some of which stay in a family for generations. This led to a history of the evolution of locked toilets at the site. Todd Ewing, from North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission's Division of Conservation Education, shared his knowledge of the Balls Creek area, both as a professional and as a life time resident. As with all the other campers interviewed, Ewing agreed that a few large families populate the area. Ewing sees the area as becoming more populated, with less farming, but so far this has not had a major effect on Balls Creek. Constant farming in the past has hurt the area just as much. The land is flat and surrounded by woods in a swampy area. Little has been done to control run-off. Farmers are gradually selling their land and developers are turning it into subdivisions. Ewing doubted that any of the people in the area had ever considered setting aside some of their land for conservation easements. It would take some education if the Catawba Lands Conservancy were to start any. Ewing did not think that people in the area gave much thought to the environmental significance of their area, or the historical importance of nearby Murray's Mill.

University of North Carolina, Charlotte, J. Murrey Atkins Library