Presentation to be held in remembrance of Hurricane Camille

Forty years ago this year, Hurricane Camille ripped through Nelson County, devastating homes, tearing apart roadways, washing away bridges and killing 153 people.

Saturday, 1:30 p.m.: Photographs and movies taken in the days following Camille will be featured. A former Waynesboro newspaper photographer, along with residents whose families took photographs, will speak.
April 18, 1:30 p.m.: Warren and Carl Raines, who survived by clinging to trees, but whose fam-ily lost their lives, will talk about their experiences, along with Earl Swift, a Norfolk newspaper journalist who wrote about the flood.
May 16, 1:30 p.m.: Music and poetry inspired by the Camille tragedy will be presented.
June 20, 1:30 p.m.: The impact of Camille as described by schoolchildren, teachers and administrators.
July 18, 1:30 p.m.: Workers from the Central Virginia Electric Cooperative and the Virginia Department of Transportation will discuss their efforts to restore utilities and county roads.
Aug. 20, 7:30 p.m.: The Camille Remembrance Program at the Nelson County High School audi-torium.

For more information, see www.historicnelson.org.

The Nelson County Museum of History is holding a series of presentations — including one this week — to commemorate the event that forever changed the county’s landscape and the lives of its residents. The events will culminate with a Camille Remembrance Program Aug. 20 at the Nelson County High School auditorium.

The talks will be held once a month at the Oakland Museum on U.S. 29 near Colleen, home to the county’s museum of history. The monthly events will feature the stories of Nelson residents who survived the hurricane in 1969 and those who helped the county recover.

“After 40 years, people are ready to tell their stories,” said Peter Agelesto, a chairman for the steering committee that has organized the events. “The hurt and the memories don’t change. But they’re ready to tell their stories.”

The first talk is scheduled for Saturday at 1:30 p.m.; it will feature never-before-seen photographs and home movies.

Brower York, a photographer for the Waynesboro News-Virginian at the time, covered the aftermath and took color and black-and-white photographs. He will speak about his experiences, along with other residents whose families took photos and movies.

Woody Greenberg, also a chairman for the steering committee, said the commemorative events will also introduce the public to the museum’s Hurricane Camille Resource Center.

“We’ve collected photographs, videos, articles, newspapers and magazines, just about anything you would need to learn more about what happened and how the county recovered from it,” Greenberg said. “We’ve got material that not many people, if anyone, have seen.”

Other events that will be held this year to commemorate the anniversary are a revival of “The Bluest Water: A Hurricane Camille Story,” by the Endstation Theatre company from June 12-28, and an event held by the Rockfish Valley Foundation along the Rockfish River on Aug. 19.