Anacostia Park is one of Washington DC’s two largest parks and recreation areas, along with Rock Creek Park. It covers over 1200 acres along the Anacostia River from South Capitol Street SE to the Maryland boundary in NE. The New… read more
Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens is situated on the banks of the Anacostia River at the north end of Anacostia Park. It is a marsh area that includes several cultivated ponds preserving rare waterlilies and lotuses. Originally known as the… read more
Humboldt Redwoods State Park was established in 1921 with purchases of some of the last remaining Old Growth stands of Coast Redwoods by the Save the Redwoods League. It has since been expanded several times and now includes over 51,000… read more
Cedar Breaks National Monument was created by President Franklin Roosevelt on August 22, 1933, with just over 6,000 acres carved out of Dixie National Forest in southwest Utah. This was Roosevelt’s first national monument declaration and it set a precedent… read more
Under the New Deal, the defunct Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O) Canal was acquired by the federal government and restored from Georgetown in the District of Columbia (where it enters the Potomac River) to Seneca MD, a distance of 22 miles…. read more
Originally named the Wolf Creek Tunnel, construction on this 800-foot long tunnel began in 1940 as one of the final steps in completion of the Wolf Creek Highway’s path through the Coast Range linking the Portland area with northern Oregon… read more
Farmington Bay Wildlife Management Area is an 18,000 acre migratory bird refuge on the shore of the Great Salt Lake. It began life as Farmington Bay State Park in the 1930s, when the Utah State Department of Fish and Game (now… read more
The Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) Memorial in Washington DC was completed in 1997 at cost of $48 million dollars, funded largely by the federal government. It is located in West Potomac Park, along the tidal basin between the Lincoln and… read more
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was extremely active in Grand Canyon National Park from 1933 to 1942. There were six CCC camps on the North Rim, South Rim and in the canyon itself and seven companies active over the decade:… read more
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was very active in Grand Canyon National Park from 1933 to 1942. There were six CCC camps on the North Rim, South Rim and in the canyon itself. CCC enrollees built many of the recreation facilities still… read more
Two Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps were established at what is today the La Purísima Mission State Historical Park: Camp La Purísima and Camp Lompoc. They were built back-to-back on the mesa above La Purísima Mission, but housed two separate companies… read more
Lafayette Park, also known as Lafayette Square, is a seven-acre public park directly north of the White House on H Street, bounded by Jackson Place on the west, Madison Place on the east, and Pennsylvania Avenue. The park was established… read more
The CCC did extensive work in Muir Woods National Monument. The National Park Service site summarizes their activity: “The men began work in Muir Woods and the surrounding Tamalpais State Park. Projects included a revetment (rockwork stream banks) in Redwood… read more
The New Deal carried out a major renovation of the National Mall, the green centerpiece of Washington DC. Funding was provided by the Public Works Administration (PWA) and labor power by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). As of 1939, the… read more
The New Deal carried out a major renovation of the National Mall, the green centerpiece of Washington DC. Funding was provided by the Public Works Administration (PWA) and labor power by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). As of 1939,… read more
The New Deal carried out a major renovation of the National Mall, the green centerpiece of Washington DC. Funding was provided by the Public Works Administration (PWA), labor power by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and supervision of the work… read more
Prince William Forest Park was developed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), with help from skilled workers of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), from 1935 to 1942. It was then known as Chopawamsic Recreation Demonstration Area (the name was changed… read more
The first Washington DC airport was built during the New Deal. Long known as National Airport, it was renamed for former President Ronald Reagan in 1998. Most locals still refer to it by its former name. Construction began in 1938,… read more
The planning and construction of the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway largely predates the New Deal, but it was only completed in 1933-36 with help from the National Park Service (NPS), Civil Works Administration (CWA), Public Works Administration (PWA), Works… read more
The Shoreham Hill bridge was constructed in 1938 as part of the completion of the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway project of the 1930s. It lies just south of the large Connecticut and Massachusetts Avenue bridges. It is the third… read more
The Works Progess Administration (WPA) did landscape cleanup around Fort DeRussy in Rock Creek Park. Crews removed underbrush, poisonous plants, and dead trees from the old earthworks, which were then (and are now) heavily forested. Fort DeRussy is a Civil… read more
The New Deal contributed substantially to the betterment of Rock Creek Park in the 1930s. This involved a number of federal agencies. Rock Creek Park is a key greenway in the District of Columbia and, at 1750 acres, is almost… read more
Bridal paths were a part of Rock Creek Park from the beginning around 1900, but the system of paths and bridges was greatly expanded during the New Deal. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built more than two miles of bridle… read more
The National Park Service, which took over command of the Capitol Parks system in 1934, restored the old Pierce Mill in Rock Creek Park in 1935-36 with the aid of a grant from the Public Works Administration (PWA) of $26,614… read more
The New Deal provided funding and labor for road improvements in Rock Creek Park. The primary Depression-era addition to the parks road system was the long-contemplated construction of a direct connection between Bingham Drive and Daniel Road (Davis 1996, p. 94)…. read more
Originally named the Willamette Highway Tunnel, the 905 feet-long Salt Creek Tunnel completed the Oregon Forest Highway Project that ran through remote areas of the Willamette National Forest to link US Highway 99 near Eugene with US 97 on the… read more
Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon National Parks were created separately, but because they are contiguous they are administered today by the National Park Service (NPS) as a single unit. Sequoia was the third national park ever created, in 1893, while… read more
Theodore Roosevelt Island National Memorial was created in the 1930s with the aid of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and National Park Service (NPS). Theodore Roosevelt Island sits in the middle of the Potomac between Arlington and downtown Washington, just… read more
The Jefferson Memorial was built to honor the author of the Declaration of Independence and third President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson. Such a memorial had long been proposed, but it was only realized under the New Deal, 1939-1943…. read more
The Works Progress Administration (WPA) joined the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in making improvements to Timpanogos Cave National Monument in the 1930s. They worked under the supervision of the National Park Service (NPS). A notable contribution of the WPA was… read more
The Tumacácori National Monument was set aside by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1908 to protect the ruins of the Mission of San Jose de Tumacacori. In 1918, it came under the administration of the National Park Service and its regional… read more
Check out our latest map and guide to the work of the New Deal in Washington, D.C. It includes 500 New Deal sites in the District alone, highlighting 34 notable sites, and includes an inset map of the area around the National Mall which can be used for self-guided walking tours.
Take a look at our previous guides, equally comprehensive, covering key New Deal sites in San Francisco and New York City.
