History: North Carolina Outward Bound School

Originally conceived as a seafaring school, North Carolina Outward Bound Schools’ first base was constructed instead in the mountains.

In the spring of 1964, an article in the Princeton Alumni News caught the attention of North Carolinian G. Watts Hill Jr. The article profiled Joshua L. Miner III and his effort to introduce Outward Bound to the United States. Already, two Outward Bound schools had opened in Colorado and Minnesota, and a third was nearing completion in Maine. Miner had established Outward Bound USA to oversee the American schools and was becoming an increasingly influential figure in education. In the article, he was quoted as saying, “Young people today need authentic adventure,” and “We simply want the opportunity, too often denied, to enable young people to discover what wonderful qualities they really possess.” Miner’s work and Kurt Hahn-inspired views of education intrigued Hill, who was chairman of the North Carolina Board of Higher Education and president of Home Security Life Insurance Company.

Marjorie Buckley

Hill sent the article to his friend George H. Esser Jr., executive director of the North Carolina Fund. (Established in 1963 by Governor Terry Sanford and supported by private foundations, the North Carolina Fund financed new projects aimed at the alleviation of poverty.) The article circulated to Jack P. Mansfield, director of special projects for the fund. Mansfield asked his assistant, Marjorie Buckley (formerly Calloway), to research Outward Bound, and Buckley soon became the driving force for the foundation of North Carolina Outward Bound School (NCOBS).

A North Carolina native and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Buckley had taught school in both her home state and England. With Mansfield’s support, Buckley made the establishment of the School her full-time job. In the summer of 1963, she visited the Minnesota Outward Bound School, where she attended a meeting of Outward Bound’s national board and witnessed the first courses open to women. She also met program director John Huie who encouraged her vision for a school in North Carolina.

In September of the same year, Buckley submitted a proposal to the executive board of the North Carolina Fund that argued, “We must continue to attempt to reach the drop out, the delinquent, the underachiever and the myriad other youth we designate as ‘problem’ with new and effective solutions to their needs.” The board rejected the proposal due to Outward Bound’s policy to serve people of all economic backgrounds, not just the poor.

Undeterred, Buckley continued to seek funding for the creation of a new Outward Bound school. With Mansfield’s encouragement, she enlisted the help of Hill to develop a board of directors. Hill wrote persuasive letters to his many influential contacts, as well as showed them the Colorado Outward Bound film As Tall as the Mountains. By the end of 1963, Hill and Buckley had assembled a group of trustees to serve on the board. They convened for the first time on December 29, 1963, to select a site for the first base camp. Despite earlier hopes to establish a seafaring school on the Outer Banks, the group chose the Linville Gorge Wilderness in the Pisgah National Forest.

By early 1966, Hill had become chairman of the board, and preparations for the School were underway. Buckley and other board members searched the land near Table Rock for a spot to build the base camp. Representatives of the School filed for incorporation as a nonprofit educational institution, and Outward Bound USA granted the School its charter.

That spring, the School hired Anthony Mulvihill as director of development, and he and Buckley opened the first North Carolina Outward Bound office in the Home Security Life Insurance Building in Durham. By August, the board of directors had become the governing body of the School. L. Richardson Preyer assumed the chairmanship, and W. Griswold Smith began organizing the first fund raising campaign.

In the autumn of 1966, a team of hardworking craftsmen who became known as the “woods crew” began construction of the Table Rock Base Camp. In his book Beyond Time and Place about the history of the School Thomas James writes:

One strong image from the past that has proved durable in the culture of the School is that of the woods crew. Lance Lee tells the story best in his own words, but it is not too far off the mark to say that the crew was a rag tag band of adventurers, assorted wanderers and nonconforming idealists drawn to the idea of building an Outward Bound school. They were bursting with convivial energy and a wild sense of destiny as they plunged into the rhododendron thickets and forested slopes of Table Rock to make a road, a base camp and the School’s first building.

Another lasting story is that of H. K. Phillips. Phillips, who lived in the nearby town of Morganton, befriended the woods crew and accompanied them on hikes up to Table Rock. Despite being well into his seventies, Phillips had extraordinary stamina, fitness and craftsmanship. He practically donated the timbers for the School’s first building and helped the crew erect them using only a chain hoist, two rickety ladders and a tripod. The crew named the building after him, and it is still referred to as the Phillips Building.

In the spring of 1967, experienced North Carolina educator James “Pop” Hollandsworth signed on as the School’s first director, and the first-ever North Carolina Outward Bound field staff consisted of Lance Lee, John Lawrence, Peter Sheehan, Stewart Shirley, Peter Coburn, Richard Day, David Mashburn, Richard Eriksson and Robert Schuiz. The school’s climbing specialist was Knut Smith.

Before courses began in the summer of 1967, Pop Hollandsworth took his staff on an overnight retreat in the vicinity of Table Rock. They summitted a nearby mountain for a bird’s-eye view of the new base camp. There, Pop produced an old ship bell and a brass cleaner. Originally, the bell had belonged to a World War II vessel, Warspite, which had served as a postwar training ship at the Outward Bound Sea School at Aberdovey. Outward Bound later donated the ship to the 3rd Tyne Sea Scouts. Upon the scrapping of Warspite, the Scouts preserved the bell and offered it to North Carolina Outward Bound as a gift of goodwill. When the School’s first students arrived on July 2, 1967, the bell and its accompanying certificate were the only objects decorating the Phillips Building.

Today, the bell hangs in the entryway of the Dalton Building at Table Rock Base Camp and continues to symbolize the School’s link to the first Outward Bound School.

An early personal challenge event

A decade after North Carolina Outward Bound’s first courses, the School’s enrollment had more than quadrupled, jumping from 184 students in 1967 to 842 students in 1977. Annual enrollment continued to rise dramatically throughout the 1980s, and by 1986, the School had more than 20,000 alumni. Much of the School’s growth stemmed from the expansion of its programs to serve larger and more diverse populations.

While the School’s first courses were designed strictly for adolescent boys, courses for girls, inner city youth, educators, college students, adults, managers, and parents and children were eventually added. North Carolina Outward Bound opened two additional base camps in the southern Appalachian Mountains, one in Florida, a rotating base at the Outer Banks and, much later, a base in Chile. In the past, the School has also run programs in Mexico, Costa Rica and Peru.

An early course

As its number of students and programs grew, the School evolved into a more sophisticated organization with a network of supporting institutions, refined curriculum, closely monitored course outcomes and a large, well-trained team of field, support and administrative staff. Over the years, numerous factors have shaped and influenced the School. The local environment, a dedicated board of directors, strong leaders and countless passionate and giving staff members have helped North Carolina Outward Bound grow into a powerful organization that is widely recognized for the quality and safety of its programs and the integrity of its mission.

Unlike Outward Bound schools in Minnesota, Oregon and Colorado that had access to remote wilderness, North Carolina Outward Bound course areas were more apt to be frequented by local outdoor enthusiasts. This close proximity to civilization gave the School more in common with its British forerunners and allowed it to be particularly active in community service projects. As a result, service and compassion have remained integral parts of North Carolina Outward Bound programs.

The timeline on the following page highlights the contributions of many North Carolina Outward Bound leaders and significant organizational changes during the School’s first 35 years.

Today, North Carolina Outward Bound School continues to offer physically challenging and emotionally rewarding experiential programs. Each year, new and experienced staff alike contributes their passion to the School and to the delivery of Outward Bound’s powerful and relevant style of education. Thanks to the dedication of its excellent staff, North Carolina Outward Bound stands out as a leading outdoor education institution and will continue to touch the lives of its students.