Camp Springs, North Carolina facts for kids
Camp Springs is a small, quiet place in Caswell County, North Carolina. It's called an "unincorporated community" because it doesn't have its own local government like a town or city. It sits about 784 feet (239 meters) above sea level.
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What's in a Name?
How Camp Springs Got Its Name
People say that Camp Springs got its name a long, long time ago. Back in 1781, during the American Revolutionary War, British soldiers led by General Cornwallis supposedly set up camp there. That's how the name "Camp Springs" might have come to be!
A Home for Bluegrass Music
The Famous Blue Grass Park
Camp Springs became a very important place for bluegrass music. A man named Carlton Haney (1928–2011) was a big supporter of bluegrass. He moved "The Original" Blue Grass Music Festival to a special spot in Camp Springs. This place was owned by his brother, Charles.
Hosting Big Music Festivals
This new location was called "Blue Grass Park." From the time it opened until 1977, it hosted some of the biggest bluegrass festivals. These huge events often happened on Labor Day weekend. Blue Grass Park also held other concerts, like a "New Grass Festival" in the spring. Music events continued there off and on until the late 1990s.
Keeping the Park Alive
To help keep Blue Grass Park running all year, Carlton Haney invited a family friend, Ronald Franklin Smith, and his wife, Peggy Kay Smith, to live on the property in the mid-1980s. Ronald was a talented banjo player. They helped look after the grounds. The Smith family lived there until 1997. After they left, the park started to show its age. Even so, in 2015, you could still see many of the original features of Blue Grass Park.
