Camp Namanu is among Oregon’s latest entries in the National Register of Historic Places. Oregon’s State Advisory Committee on Historic Preservation (SACHP) recommended the nomination at their October 2023 meeting for its important social and architectural history. The National Park Service — which maintains the National Register of Historic Places — accepted this nomination in March 2024.
Camp Namanu, Oregon’s first girls’ camp founded in 1924 by Camp Fire Girls, spans 552-acres along the Sandy River. It features rustic wooden buildings blending seamlessly with the surrounding meadows, forests, and river. Reflective of Progressive Era summer camps, Camp Namanu was established to provide the types of leadership and outdoor development opportunities to young women that already existed for boys.
The camp’s structures are influenced by the back-to-nature movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries that romanticized the American landscape. Notably, Camp Namanu features works by Pietro Belluschi, an Italian American architect renowned for his Pacific Northwest-inspired designs. Belluschi is credited with the design of several existing lodges at Camp Namanu and those buildings illustrate the early development of his style.
For more information on how Camp Namanu is celebrating its 100-year anniversary, visit www.campfirecolumbia.org or contact Josh Todd, President & CEO of Camp Fire Columbia at jtodd@campfirecolumbia.org or (971) 347-6250.
The National Register is maintained by the National Park Service under the authority of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966.
This effort is in line with Oregon’s Statewide Preservation Plan that seeks to increase the number of listings in the National Register and addresses the goal to increase the populations underrepresented in Oregon’s National Register listings. It also supports the goals to increase access to and include more voices in Oregon heritage that are part of the Oregon Heritage Plan.
Properties listed in the National Register are:
- Recognized as significant to the nation, state, or community;
- Considered in the planning of federal or federally-assisted projects;
- Eligible for federal and state tax benefits;
- Qualify for historic preservation grants when funds are available;
- Eligible for leniency in meeting certain building code requirements;
- Subject to local laws pertaining to the conservation and protection of historic resources.
State law in Oregon requires local governments to offer a minimal level of protection for properties listed in the National Register of Historic Places; the decisions about how to accomplish that goal reside with local governments, which also have the authority to create and regulate local historic districts and landmarks.
