VANDERBILT ENGINEERING CAMP
Camp Schuerman, 1952
or
How I Spent My Summer Vacation
The summer of 1952 was busy. In June I attended ROTC camp at Fort Belvoir, VA. In July I and two companions hiked the Appalachian Trail from Nolichucky to French Broad Rivers. And in August I took the required field course in surveying at Camp Schuerman on Bon Air Mountain. Summers were longer in those days.
I was between my freshman and sophomore years at Vanderbilt University School of Engineering. The surveying course was mandatory at that time for students of all disciplines: Chemical, Civil, Electrical, and Mechanical Engineering. Two sessions were offered: June and August. I think they lasted four weeks, but I’m not certain. I was forced to attend the August session to accommodate the ROTC camp, which happened in June.
The ROTC camp was normally attended after the sophomore year, but I was a year advanced as a result of having taken all three years of Junior ROTC at West End High School.
My recollection of the camp is very vague. That year was long ago, and I have lived several lives since. I remember a bunk house built of rough-sawn lumber. It was August, so I don’t recall if it was heated. There was another long building housing a classroom in one end and the mess hall in the other. Those rooms may have been the same.
I recall being advised that the shower water was pumped from mines below into an elevated tank. There was no water heater. On clear days, the tank was warmed by the sun while we were at work. The first students to reach the showers after class could expect warm showers. Late comers got ground water temperature.
The text: Elementary Surveying by William Horace Rayner, second edition, Van Nostrand, 1943. I still have it. I was pretty good at the theory, which is basically applied trigonometry, but not so good at field work. My traverses never closed.
My old friend, Bruce Weaver, was in my class, and attended the June session that year. I have appended his recollections. He had planned to hike the Appalachian Trail with us, but contracted appendicitis at surveying camp. I have no memory of the big house described by Bruce. He also found a map of the camp, done as a student exercise, which I have included. Note that, on this map, north is to the left.
Camp Schuerman was located where Rim Rock Mesa subdivision is now. Others have referred to it as the “Vanderbilt Boys Camp,” but only because lady engineers were rare in those days. In 1955, the School of Engineering awarded the Bachelor of Engineering degree to 68 graduates, including one woman.
In 1975, Dillard Jacobs published a book, 102 Years: A Story of the First Century of Vanderbilt University School of Engineering 1875 - 1875. I have appended the chapter pertinent to Camp Schuerman.