Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Sites

Shady Lake is a popular 25-acre recreational impoundment in the Ouachita National Forest served by an accompanying U.S. Forest Service recreation area. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was involved in construction of a bathhouse (1936), dam and picnic pavilion (1938), and a caretakers house (1940).

“The pine tree motif is characteristic of the CCC presence in the national forests, and was used for entrance signs at several Klamath National Forest campgrounds. One of them, Shafter, is located several miles south of Macdoel and Mount Hebron, on the road to Bray in northeast California. Shafter also has several Klamath stoves, designed on the forest by CCC foreman Robert Brown. Klamath stoves have a closed firebox instead of an open grill, to both maintain heat and lessen fire danger. The Klamath stove took several different forms as its popularity spread across the West, and CCC enrollees provided...

Shakamak is an attractive site today, but in 1930 when it opened as a state park, much of the parcel was a wasteland of abandoned strip mines. Shakamak State Park entered a new phase of development during the Great Depression. In the winter of 1933-34, the Civil Works Administration (CWA) employed hundreds of local men to build trails, shelters, and a new lake. The dam was completed by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) which also constructed fish ponds and pens for exotic animals. In 1937, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) finished the projects. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed...

The west shelter was completed by CCC laborers in 1935. The style of the shelter is classified as parks rustic.

The CCC workers completed an outdoor amphitheater using natural terrain. The amphitheater was completed in 1934.

The bath house, or beach pavilion, was a cooperative effort between CCC and WPA workers. The structure was left unfinished at the start of World War II. Park employees were able to complete the pavilion in 1942.

The beach shelter was completed in 1935 by CCC laborers. The style of the shelter is classified as parks rustic.

An abandoned coal mine drift was used as a "coal exhibit" from 1935 through the 1940s. The park discontinued the exhibit but the remains of the site are still visible from trail 2.

The CCC completed nine identical family cabins between 1938 and 1939. The cabins are typical of CCC construction, and represent the movement in recreational developed in the 1930s toward promoting group and family camping.

Using a variety of native materials, the CCC built gatehouses designed to appeal to the eye and draw in visitors with hints of the delights of nature within the park. The Shakamak gatehouse was completed by CCC laborers in 1936. The style of the gatehouse is classified as parks rustic.

The maintenance shed was constructed by CCC laborers in 1938. The CCC used the maintenance shed for storage and truck maintenance.

The oven shelter was completed by CCC workers in 1935. It is a good representation of the CCC development of Indiana state parks. The style of the shelter is classified as parks rustic.

In 1940 CCC laborers completed the Shakamak saddle barn. The style of the barn is classified as parks rustic.

The service building was completed by CCC workers in 1941.

"Sharon Woods Park was first established in 1932, making it the oldest park managed by Hamilton County. Many of the park's amenities, including the dam and golf course were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Today it remains a popular recreation destination for local residents and boasts miles of multipurpose trails, boat rentals, picnic shelters, and much more."   (https://recplanet.com/node/26678) The WPA was also involved in developing the park.

"Located on the northern end of Pleasant Mountain, Shawnee Peak is the oldest major ski area in Maine. Shawnee Peak's skiing history dates back to 1935, when multiple groups started developing a winter recreation area on the northern slopes of Pleasant Mountain. The Bridgton Lions Club, Bridgton Chamber of Commerce, Bridgton Academy, Portland Ski Club, and Bridgton Civilian Conservation Corps joined together to construct the Wayshego Trail. Laid out by Max Wheildon, Bud Dow, and Clarence Kneeland, the 1.5 mile trail was only the start of what was to come. In 1937, Bridgton selectmen obtained a Works Progress Administration grant for further...

“After more than twenty-five years of operation…many of the early water-control and –conveyance structures had fallen into a state of disrepair, and existing storage had proven inadequate. In Lahontan Valley, the CCC built or completed new water conservation projects including the Sheckler Reservoir and the S-Canal Dam and regulating reservoir to store more water. They also renovated and enlarged portions of the thirty-two-mile-long Truckee Canal, built several earth- and rock-filled dikes to increase reservoir capacity, and lined the Lahontan Dam Spillways with rock riprap to protect its banks.” --The Civilian Conservation Corps in Nevada

The following is an excerpt from an interview with Abe Boehm, a CCC enrollee (Company 3740) stationed at Camp Clear Lake in northeastern California between February and June of 1937: “The CCC boys from Clear Lake fenced off the Petroglyphs. The reason they needed a fence was that the tourists would chip the rocks off for souvenirs . When we first went there, 90% of the Petroglyphs were still intact, but every day you’d see a few fresh chips missing. So out crew’s job was to build the fence and a tower that the game wardens and sheriffs could use for...

The Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1931 in the desert landscape of northern Nevada and eastern Oregon and enlarged by order of President Franklin Roosevelt in December 1936, under the auspices of the Bureau of Biological Survey (Fish and Wildlife Service after 1940).  It now covers 573,000 acres and is part of the Sheldon-Hart Mountain National Wildlife Refuge Complex, which is headquartered in Oregon.  It harbors one of the last reasonably intact examples of a sagebrush-steppe ecosystem in the Great Basin and is known for its populations of bighorn sheep, pronghorn antelope and wild mustangs (since removed). The Civilian...

The Civilian Conservation Corps built a shelter and picnic facilities at Mount Kearsarge between 1933-1942.

During the summer of 1935, the Oregonian newspaper announced that among Oregon's 67 Civilian Conservation Camps that summer one would be located at Shelton State Park in Wheeler County. The 200 member work crew made improvements in the state park along with other tasks associated with CCC workers, such as reforestation work and fire fighting, and road construction. Shelton Wayside Park is the park's current name. It is located approximately ten miles southeast of Fossil on Highway 19.

"Between May 11, 1933 and March 31, 1942, ten CCC camps were established within, or on leased land adjacent to, Shenandoah. At any one time, more than 1,000 boys and young men lived in camps supervised by the Army and worked on projects directed by the Service and the Bureau of Public Roads. Until the park was established officially on December 26, 1935, the bulk of CCC activity took place on the narrow 100 foot right-of-way of the Skyline Drive, in the few areas of purchased or donated land transferred to the federal government by the Commonwealth of Virginia, or on...

One of the first CCC camps in the park, (Camp N.P.-2), was established at Big Meadows. Some of the CCC camp structures remain. The CCC also created many of the structures that make up today's Big Meadows Campground. CCC works remaining include water fountains, comfort stations, picnic grounds, roads, cabins, a maintenance office, a gas/oil building, a stable/storage structure and more.

"Big Meadows Lodge is on Skyline Drive in Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park, and 75 overlooks along the 115-mile-long National Scenic Byway provide valley vistas. The lodge was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps and local laborers in 1939 from stone cut from nearby Massanutten Mountain. The interior paneling is made from native chestnut, a tree that is almost extinct because of chestnut blight."   (https://traveltips.usatoday.com)

"Located south along the drive from Big Meadows, Lewis Mountain Development Area sits on a plateau approximately 3,400 feet above sea level east of Lewis Mountain and consists of a picnic grounds, lodge and eight cabins (having 15 overnight units), and a campground, 30 sites for tents or trailers, a picnic area, a camp store, and two comfort stations... Lewis Mountain’s facilities were built to accommodate African American visitors during the period of racial segregation that marked Depression-era Virginia. The developed area opened in the summer of 1939 but closed in 1942 for the duration of WWII. Desegregated after the war,...

"The Skyline Drive follows closely the course of the Appalachian Trail and extends the entire length of the Shenandoah National Park, along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains, nearly 100 miles. It will eventually be extended almost 500 miles farther south. It is a hard-surfaced highway with parking spaces and wide turn-outs at frequent intervals, from which may be enjoyed views of great beauty - the Shenandoah Valley on the west and the Piedmont section of Virginia on the east. One of the engineering features is an 80-foot tunnel through St. Mary's Rock near Thornton Gap where the drive crosses...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) conducted substantial work at Shenipsit State Forest in northern Connecticut. Work was undertaken by Camp Conner, housing Company #1192, which operated from Sept. 5, 1935 to May 23, 1941. Projects, which include those given separate pages on this website, included "miles of hiking trails" and "clean-up after the Flood of 1936 and the Hurricane of 1938 in East Hartford, Stafford Springs, and South Windsor."

The Sherando Lake Recreation Area was constructed in the George Washington National Forest by the 351st Company of the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933. Consisting of a main lower lake and smaller upper lake in the Appalachian Mountains, the Sherando Lake Recreation Area continues to offer opportunities for swimming, fishing, boating, hiking, and camping to the general public.

The Lake of the Pines (now known as Sheridan Lake) on Spring Creek was constructed as a joint project by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) from 1938 to 1940.  It was the largest earth dam built by the CCC or WPA in South Dakota. "...some of the most significant structures built by the CCC were the dams that created recreational lakes in the Black Hills. Most of these dams were either 'earth fill with core trench' or 'earth fill on bentonite base.' Occasionally, concrete dams were constructed. Earth fill on bentonite dams created Lakes Mitchell, Major, Dalton, Roubaix,...

"During the Great Depression, laborers from the Works Progress Administration constructed a swimming pool and bathhouse in Sheridan Park, and the park hosted a WPA Toy Loan Center and WPA outdoor theatrical performances. Several years later, workers from the Civilian Conservation Corps constructed jetties in Lake Michigan off Sheridan Park as well as a service road down the face of the bluff."

In 1933, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers stationed in the Bridger-Teton National Forest constructed three new buildings for the Sherman Guard Station, including an office, garage/shop, and an outhouse. Originally used as a yearlong headquarters for the Sherman Ranger District, the ranger station became a seasonal work center by 1933. The site was used intermittently throughout the 20th century, and has most recently served as the staging area for fire crews fighting the Mule Forest Fire in 2002. Six buildings remain onsite at the Sherman Guard Station today, and all three of the buildings constructed by the CCC remain in use by...

Beginning in 1934, 400 African American WWI veterans were employed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) to participate in restoration of the Civil War battlefield. As Timothy Smith writes in “Black Soldiers and the CCC at Shiloh National Military Park”: “Among the chief beneficiaries of the New Deal's job creation programs were Shiloh and other national parks, to which thousands of laborers were sent to construct, rehabilitate, and restore. In the case of Shiloh, the Civil Works Administration (CWA) employed several hundred local men from Hardin and McNairy counties on erosion control projects, road maintenance, and excavations at Shiloh's Indian mounds. The...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) did reforestation and development on the Shimek State Forest, located on abandoned farm land near Farmington, Iowa.

Emergency relief crews, including WPA and CCC workers, undertook cleanup and dredging in Wallace and nearby towns after persistent flooding of the Coeur d'Alene River in 1933 and 1934. From the University of Idaho archives, describing the collection on file: "The floods of 1933 were by far the worst. Three days of torrential rains in early June sent the Coeur d'Alene River and its tributaries over their banks. Then on December 21 a sudden thaw accompanied by heavy rains caused landslides and flooding. Coeur d'Alene Lake reached an all time high level of 2139.5 feet above sea level--two feet higher than...

Per the US Forest Service: "This recreation site was built by the Civilian Conservation Corp in the 1930s and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Shoshone County Sportsman’s Association purchased the land and donated it to the Forest Service for development of the recreation site. The site is located along the old Yellowstone or Mullan Trail that allowed early day travel across Lookout Pass between Idaho and Montana. The historic structures within the picnic area consist of two picnic pavilions built in 1936, a rectangular single room, single story log cabin, and a single story rectangular framed...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed Sibley Lake Dam, located about 11.5 miles southwest of Dayton, Wyoming.

After New Deal workers constructed the nearby Sierra Madre Dam, CCC workers also built a series of concrete bridges and the flow channel that leads from the dam through the town of Sierra Madre. The work was completed around 1940. The bridges and channel sections pictured here are identified by address.

This concrete dam on Little Santa Anita Creek, in the city of Sierra Madre, California, is owned by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works. Although the original dam was completed in 1928, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) did work to channelize the creek and construct bridges below the dam. A large concrete dam for flood control in the vicinity of Sierra Madre was constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), circa 1935.

Although the State's initial acquisition of land for the park occurred in 1931, the early development of Silver Falls State Park can be credited to several of the New Deal programs. A significant portion of the land for the park was purchased by the federal Resettlement Administration (RA) c 1935, and developed for recreational use through the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and Works Progress Administration (WPA) between 1935 and 1942. As shown on the map below, a portion of the land that became Silver Falls State Park was once Silver Falls City.  Surrounding this old logging town, the...

The early development of Silver Falls State Park can be credited to several of the New Deal programs. A significant portion of the land for the park was purchased by the Federal Resettlement Administration (RA) c. 1935, and developed for recreational use through the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) between 1935 and 1942. During that period, a distinction was made between Silver Falls Park, which was accessible to the public, and the area designated as the Silver Creek Recreation Development Area (RDA), which was a special federal program designed to allow urban...