Feb. 16, 2009
For Immediate Release
Contact: Woody Greenberg
434-263-5940

Oakland Museum to Commemorate 40th Anniversary of Hurricane Camille

Oakland – The Nelson County Museum of History will commemorate the 40th anniversary of Hurricane Camille with a series of talks at the museum over the next six months and an event at Nelson County High School on Aug. 20.
The talks will be held once a month at Oakland, and feature the stories of Nelson residents who went through the 1969 tragedy and helped the county recover from the devastation.
The first talk will be on Saturday, March 21 beginning at 1:30 p.m. and will feature never-before-seen photographs and movies taken in the days following the 1969 flood caused by Camille. Brower York, a photographer from the Waynesboro News-Virginian will tell about his experiences, and other residents whose families took photos and movies will present and talk about them.
On April 18, also beginning at 1;30 p.m., Warren and Carl Raines, who survived by clinging to trees, but whose family lost their lives, will talk about their experiences with Earl Swift, a Norfolk newspaper journalist who wrote about the flood.
On May 16, the focus will be on music and poetry inspired by the Camille tragedy. On June 20, the subject will be the impact of Camille as described by school children, teachers and administrators.
Workers from the Central Virginia Electric Cooperative and the Virginia Department of Transportation will discuss their efforts to restore utilities and county roads on July 18.
A Camille Remembrance Program will be held on the evening of Thursday, Aug. 20 at Nelson County High School Auditorium.
Details on who will be appearing at the various events will be announced closer to the actual dates and will be posted on the Oakland web site, www.historicnelson,org.
Oakland has established a Camille Resource Center that includes photographs, video programs, old movies, newspaper and magazine articles, and videotaped oral histories. Grant funds and donations are being sought to create computer kiosks to allow the public to have access to these materials.
Admission to the talks at the museum will be $5 for adults. Children 12 and under will be admitted free of charge, as will family members of flood victims. The Aug. 20 event will be free of charge to all.