Camp Namanu is among Oregon’s latest entries in the National Register of Historic Places, state officials say

Eugene, OR – According to the statement, Oregon’s State Advisory Committee on Historic Preservation 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.