Keystone in the News
Extra! Extra!
Learn more about Keystone and its national influence throughout its long history from the many news sites that have written about the camp over the years.
Morning Rush Show July 2023
Fourth-generation owner Page Ives Lemel talks about the origins of Christmas in July at Keystone Camp.
Want to reopen schools? Summer camps show how complicated it’ll be.
Many camps across the U.S. have fended off the coronavirus. Schools can learn from their successes—and failures.
Read about it at nationalgeographic.com
This summer camp was open during the 1918 flu outbreak. And it’s open this year. - The Washington Post
How the coronavirus is changing what it means to go to camp.
Read about it at washingtonpost.com
Christmas in July Started at This Girls Summer Camp in 1935
The unorthodox celebration originated at Keystone Camp on July 24, 1935, complete with gift exchanges, Santa Claus and cotton imitation snow. From there, it was an annual tradition that remains ingrained in camp policy today.
Read about it at marthastewart.com
How a North Carolina Summer Camp Started Christmas in July
Keystone Camp’s co-founder Fannie Holt dreamed up Christmas in July in 1933.
Read about it at countryliving.com
The Real Story Behind Christmas in July Started in North Carolina
“Christmas in July (or as some people call it, Half Christmas) has become such a cultural staple each year that you may not have even thought about who first dreamed up such a cheery, potentially cheesy, midsummer celebration.”
Read about it at southernliving.com
A Christmas (in July) Story
Eighty-five years ago, one North Carolina girls’ camp heralded summer’s first Noel
Read about it at gardenandgun.com
Keystone Camp Turns 100
Since Holt’s passing in 1942, the camp has moved down the bloodline; current director Page Ives Lemel is the fourth to inherit Keystone.
Celebrating 100 Summers at Keystone Camp
Generations of women have crossed the threshold of Keystone Camp in Brevard. This year, the oldest private summer camp in the Southeast marks its centennial.
Director of 100-year-old summer camp helps shape lives of women
BREVARD, N.C. – Page Lemel is part of a family that runs the oldest girls summer camp in the Southeast.Keystone Camp in Brevard is celebrating 100 years of helping shape young lives. Page has been the director for 33 years.
A Lifetime of Summers
Page Ives Lemel nudges open the door of a creaky wooden cabin her father built more than four decades ago. It sticks a bit on the uneven floor, but Lemel persists. Like many buildings at Brevard’s Keystone Camp—which celebrates 100 years this summer—this cabin was built by her family with a spirit of resiliency and self-sufficiency.
Read about it at wncmagazine.com
Keystone Camp: 100 Years Of Family Commitment - Brevard NC - The Transylvania Times
It was 1916 when a small group of girls from Jacksonville, Fla., led by Miss Florence Ellis and Miss Fannie Holt, came to Transylvania County and marked the inaugural class of Keystone Camp.
Read about it at transylvaniatimes.com
Asheville Citizen Times: Keystone Camp molds young women for 100 summers
Brevard girls camp carries on a century-old tradition
Read about it at citizen-times.com
Washington Post
Nov 13, 1933
The hum of Christmas is already in the air. Washington children are beginning to get big-eyed about the anticipated arrival of Santa Claus. But for some of them it is going to be the second Christmas they have had this year.
