Kanuga Conference Center

Kanuga Conference Center is affiliated with the Episcopal Church, USA and the Anglican Communion. It is located on 1400acre near Hendersonville, North Carolina, with scenic Kanuga Lake at its center. Yearly, more than 35,000 guests utilize the facilities, which include the Conference Center, Camp Kanuga, Camp Bob, and the Mountain Trail Outdoor School.The word Kanuga is of Cherokee origin referring to both a former place of a Cherokee settlement in South Carolina and to a Cherokee tool resembling a short comb with seven teeth used in preparation of players in a Cherokee ritual stick ball game. The description 'gathering place' also came to be associated with the term, which led to its selection as the name of a new vacation colony in 1909.HistoryKanuga Lake ClubKanuga began in 1909 as "Kanuga Lake Club," the dream of George Stephens, a Charlotte banker, real estate developer, and newspaper publisher. Kanuga Lake Club was designed to be a place for families from the "low country" of South Carolina and North Carolina to take vacation. Stephens employed John Nolan as his planner, and Richard Sharp Smith as his architect.After 950acre were purchased, a dam was built over Mud Creek, creating a lake (much larger than the current Lake Kanuga). Thirty-nine cottages, an inn with dining rooms, and a lakeside pavilion were built, usable only during the summer months. Utilizing his successful businesses, American Trust Company ((UTC) "Kanuga History" on the Kanuga websiteAccessed: 9 January 2012 "Kanuga - Story of a Gathering Place" by Jack Reak, 1993(UTC)(United States)Kanuga History]]