In 1965, Highland dance teacher Sally Southerland from Charlotte, NC; Ludovic Grant-Alexander, the director of The Citadel Pipe Band in Charleston; and the developers of Invershiel, a replica of a Scottish Highlands village at the foot of Grandfather Mountain gathered to imagine a summer program to teach dancing, piping, and Scottish history and culture. The first Highland Arts Camp opened in June 1966 with 20 campers on the campus of Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk, and the tradition will continue on that same campus in 2024.