It all started with this old envelope of photo negatives.
The mystery of the lost summer camp: part 1
How
it began
I asked my relatives to search
their homes for old family documents
and pictures. My cousin Ann presented
me with an old, faded envelope
full of photographic negatives.
My aunt Elsie's name was on the
outside, and I later determined
that these dated from 1920s when
she was a young woman—possibly a
teenager.
Highland
lassie
I scanned the negatives and converted
them to positive images. I was
amazed by the quality of these
80-year-old pictures. Here's Elsie
sitting on a railroad track.
But where? That's what I wanted to find out. There were several other clues. Obviously, this was a summer camp for girls. And it must be within travel distance of her home in East Point, Georgia. But did they travel on a train, as suggested by the picture below?
The
first clue
The word "Highland" on
the little shelter wasn't much
to go on. I first thought of Highlands,
North Carolina. That's in another
state, but it's still right next
door to Georgia. But after further
research, I gave up on that idea.
And there was another summer camp
with a similar name, and it had
a railroad for access, but it was
a camp for boys.
We still don't know the name of Elsie's friend (below), but they appear together in several pictures. In this risque pose, they show a lot of skin between their hose and bloomers. We never knew our old-maid aunt had once been a daring young woman.
Hooray for the Internet
This newspaper article I found through
an Internet search was the next big
clue. It says ". . . Girl Reserve
Leaders have returned [from] Camp Highland,
near Atlanta." OK, that's a big
help. Now I know the name, and I know
that it was near Atlanta. From the
pictures, it looks a bit hilly. That
would probably place Camp Highland
to the north of the city.
But who are the Girl Reserves, and exactly where is this mysterious Camp Highland?
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