{"nrhp_refnum":"85002421","name":"Camp Academy","other_names":["Camp Forest"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"NC 63","address_restricted":false,"city":"Leicester","county":"Buncombe County","state":"NC","lat":35.65611558100005,"lon":-82.71420944399995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1985-09-19","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brick Colonial Revival building on a low ridge on the north side of NC 63, near Leicester in Buncombe County, North Carolina. It was completed in 1897 as a private academy.","why_significant":"It is described as the only nineteenth-century private academy building still standing in Buncombe County, dating from when such schools were the main source of education. Its first principal, A.C. Reynolds, later led Biltmore College and served as county school superintendent. It is also a substantial brick Colonial Revival building that has been a local landmark since it was built.","narrative":"Camp Academy is a two-story brick building completed in 1897 on a ridge beside NC 63 near Leicester, about ten miles northwest of Asheville. Built of local brick laid in American bond, it has a five-bay facade, a gable-on-hip roof, round-arch and segmental-arch windows, and a one-story porch wrapping around two full sides. It housed a private subscription school until 1913, at a time when Buncombe County still relied on academies rather than a full public system. It is the only such academy building still standing in the county. Its first principal, Alonzo Carlton Reynolds, later served as county school superintendent and as president of Biltmore College, and a county high school bears his name. In the 1920s the building briefly operated as the Camp Forest hotel, then became an apartment house. A 1983 rehabilitation kept the original partitions, stair and exterior appearance while adapting it as a medical clinic.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"Unknown","architectural_style":"Vernacular Colonial Revival","criteria":["A","B","C"],"status_note":"Rehabilitated in 1983 and in use as a medical clinic (Waters of Life Family Health Center); previously an apartment house.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:50.359344-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/16/7192/47719216/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/85002421.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85002421/aed1053634-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85002421/aed1053634-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"CampAcademy1897","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CampAcademy2014.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">CampAcademy1897</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CampAcademy2014.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47719216","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Academy","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q17986238"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/buncombe-county/camp-academy-85002421/"}