Historical Restoration Sites

The Abingdon Plantation Historic Site is the birthplace of Nellie Custis (1779-1852), granddaughter of Martha Washington and step-granddaughter of George Washington. Following the death of her father (John Parke Custis) in 1781, Nelly and her brother, George Washington Parke Custis, moved to Mount Vernon and were raised by their grandparents. The historic site is located between the two large parking garages at Washington National Airport, in between Thomas Avenue and West Entrance Road, Arlington, Virginia. A Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) report describes the restoration work of the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1934-35: “They landscaped the grounds and built a twenty-car parking...

"The Ada Covered Bridge is a 125-foot (38 m) span Brown truss covered bridge erected in 1867 in Ada, Michigan, United States. Carrying Bronson Street across the Thornapple River, it is located just south of where the Thornapple enters the Grand River, in turn just south of M-21. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places... In 1941 the Kent County Road Commission and the Works Progress Administration made extensive restorations, re-roofing the bridge with new protective creosote shingles and replacing many of its decayed underlying supports with new beams. The Road Commission purchased a nearby barn to supply wood...

The monument itself dates from 1893 but the original marble bust was replaced in 1934 by a bronze one sculpted by Evaline Sellors as a PWAP project. The curbing (reflecting pool) around the Al Hayne Monument is a CWA project: "The marble bust of Al Hayne, carved by Lloyd Bowman, was removed due to extreme deterioration, according to a Fort Worth Star-Telegram article from June, 1934. (Note: this is at odds with a Fort Worth oral tradition which holds that the Hayne bust was stolen). Fort Worth sculptor Evaline Sellors received a commission from the federally-funded Public Works of Art Project to sculpt...

Multiple New Deal agencies were involved with improving the grounds at the Alamo. A timeline mural board on the west side of the Alamo Museum indicates that "depression-era public works projects" built the walls that now encompass the grounds of the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas. The Alamo is regarded as the "Shrine of Texas Liberty" due to its location of the famous battle within its perimeter during the Texas Revolution; however, it was originally the site of Mission San Antonio Valero which was moved here in 1724 after several previous locations in the area were not suitable. The New York Times...

A suspension bridge over Androscoggin River on Pedestrian Path in Brunswick and Topsham. Built in 1892 by John A. Roebling Sons Co. to allow mill employees in Bruswick access to housing in Topsham. The bridge was heavily damaged in the 1936 spring flood. The deck was destroyed, but the towers and the original suspension cables survived. The federal Works Progress Administration helped replace the span and resurfaced the piers that the towers stand on with concrete. The bridge was rehabilitated in 2006.

The Battle of Antietam took place on September 17, 1862, and is known as the bloodiest day of the Civil War.  General George B. McClellan and his Union forces faced off against General Robert E. Lee and his Confederate Army at Sharpsburg, Maryland.  When the fighting was done, well over 3,500 men were dead, and another 19,000 wounded. Throughout the New Deal period, Antietam National Battlefield received a large amount of attention, funding, and work from the CWA, PWA, and WPA.  The CWA placed a historical survey group there, circa 1933-34; the PWA funded restoration of large buildings and monuments, such...

The Civilian Conservation Corps' Indian Division (CCC-ID) did archeological excavation and stabilization work at several sites of ancient indigenous ruins across Arizona in the 1930s.  A Navajo Indian CCC mobile unit was formed under a joint program between the Park Service and the Indian Service (later the Bureau of Indian Affairs) to work under the supervision of an archeologist on stabilization work on pre-Columbian ruins in Chaco Canyon, Navajo, Tonto, Wupatki, Aztec Ruins, Montezuma Castle, and Gran Quivira national monuments (Paige 1985, p. ?) It is likely that CCC enrollees also built the main visitor trail at the monument, but that needs...

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enrollees from the Mt. Elden Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp near Flagstaff worked at Walnut Canyon National Monument from 1938 to 1942.  One part of their work was assisting with the stabilization and restoration of dwelling units in the cliffs of Walnut Canyon.  Walnut Canyon is an important site of cliff dwellings left by the Sinagua people, who occupied the site c. 1125-1250 C.E.  There are a couple hundred dwelling units tucked into the cliffs on both sides of the canyon, but the focus of the archeological work was along the Island Trail, which the CCC built...

The federal Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) furnished the labor for the restoration of the last territorial capitol grounds of Arkansas, during the latter years of the Great Depression. The site now houses the Historic Arkansas Museum. The institution states on its website: " Loughborough began a one-woman campaign to save the block, lobbying the Arkansas Legislature for funding to restore the buildings and have them preserved as the Arkansas Territorial Restoration. The museum formally opened in July 1941." In 1940 the WPA wrote: "This project, located in the downtown business district, has restored the grounds and buildings of the last territorial capitol...

The complex in Aztec Ruins National Monument consists of a "three-story structure as many as 500 rooms, includ a great kiva that is more than forty feet across." The name "Aztec" is a misnomer as the original excavators believed that the structures were from that tribe. In fact, "The pueblo dates from approximately A.D. 1100." In the winter of 1933-34, workers for the Civil Works Administration (CWA) built "an entrance road, a parking area, and general clean-up." Also in 1934, Public Works Administration (PWA) workers rebuilt some of the original structure as workers "dismantled the walls and relaid the masonry"...

Currently serving as the National Park Service's administrative office for the Fort Vancouver - McLoughlin House Unit, the Dr. Forbes Barclay House shares more than proximity with its better-known neighbor (the McLoughlin House). The two structures not only housed important figures of the Hudson Bay Company, who then retired to Oregon City and contributed to the development of the town, their preservation and restoration are linked in several efforts of the New Deal era as well. Built in 1849, the Barclay House is one of Oregon's oldest examples of Classical Revival architecture. As such, the Civil Works Administration (CWA) funded local...

Beauvoir, the retirement home of Jefferson Davis, was in use as the Old Soldiers Home in 1934-1945 when Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) and the Mississippi legislature funded repairs and renovations to 20 state institutions. Davis' Greek Revival home constructed c. 1850 was home to indigent or impoverished Confederate Veterans. Through combined state legislative funds and the ERA labor and funds, Beauvoir was "renovated and brought up to a reasonable state of repair" (Clarion-Ledger, 1935, p. 3). Interior and exteriors were painted, as were several cottages on the property and the chapel. The house was also "completed redecorated" (Clarion-Ledger, 1935,...

"Big Ridge State Park was one of five demonstration parks developed by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in cooperation with the National Park Service and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) as an example of public recreation development along TVA lakeshores. The structures on the park reflect the craftsmanship and stonework of the CCC. Along the trails you may see remnants of the  homes and farms that existed here prior to the birth of the TVA."   (https://tnstateparks.com) This park was actually part of the greater Norris Project. "Civilian Conservation Corps Company 4495, which was originally based in Loyston, began work on Big...

"Among the several projects in the Virgin Islands was the Bluebeard Castle Hotel. The group of buildings was erected on the summit of a hill 200 feet above the sea. An ancient stone tower with walls 5 1/2 feet thick, is supposed to have been the watchtower of the famous legendary pirate, Bluebeard. The building on the right in the larger illustration contains the lobby, administrative offices, dining room, bar, kitchen, and service rooms. A detail of its entrance portico is illustrated on the right side of this page. Terraces planted with palms, tropical flowers, and foliage surround all the...

During the last decade of the 1800s, John Grignola carved this granite statue of a Civil War Union soldier for Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx. After years of neglect, WPA workers located the statue in the Bronx River, refurbished it, and moved it to another Bronx River location. According to New York City's Department of Parks & Recreation, the statue never made it into the Woodlawn Cemetery, either because it was damaged or because it was rejected by the cemetery. John B. Lazzari, owner of "a local tombstone quarry and monuments yard,"  purchased the statue and displayed "..it on his property on the west...

"This bronze sculpture depicts William Earl Dodge (1805–1883), one of the founders of Phelps, Dodge, a leading mining company. Dodge helped organize the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) in the United States and served as the president of the National Temperance Society from 1865 to 1883. John Quincy Adams Ward (1830–1910) sculpted the piece, which was donated by a committee of Dodge’s friends and acquaintances and dedicated October 22, 1885. Dodge is represented leaning on a podium while delivering a speech. The piece originally stood in Herald Square on a pedestal designed by Richard Morris Hunt (who designed the pedestal for...

The NYC Parks Department website explains that: "Architect Charles A. Platt (1861–1933) designed this elegant black granite ornamental fountain to commemorate social worker and reformer Josephine Shaw Lowell (1843–1905). Shaw, who is said to be the first woman to be honored by a major monument in New York City, was the first female member of the New York State Board of Charities, serving from 1876 to 1889. The Memorial Committee that worked to build the fountain originally wanted it placed in Corlear’s Hook Park on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, near where Shaw focused her energies. Instead, the fountain, with its 32-foot-wide...

The W.P.A. conducted restoration and preservation work at the Bunker Hill Monument. "Such colossal monuments such as the stone shaft at Bunker Hill, Grant's Tomb, and the Statue of Liberty have been repaired, have had their grounds beautified, or have been otherwise improved."

 The Cabildo has a long and notorious history. It was constructed in 1795-99 as the seat of the Spanish municipal government in New Orleans. The name of the governing body who met there was the "Illustrious Cabildo" or city council. It was site of the Louisiana Purchase Transfer in 1803.  The building later served as the home of the Louisiana Supreme Court and was where  the nationally significant Slaughterhouse and Plessey vs. Ferguson cases were heard before they went up to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Cabildo became the home of the Louisiana State Museum in 1911 and remains the flagship of that institution.

The NYC Parks Department website explains: "This impressive monument to soldier, statesman and journalist Carl Schurz is the result of a collaboration between the distinguished sculptor Karl Bitter (1867–1915) and renowned architect Henry Bacon (1866–1924). Built in 1913, the monument consists of a full standing bronze portrait of Schurz in the center of a granite exedra (curved bench) with carved reliefs framed by two ornamental bronze luminaries. The entire monument is located within a large brick-paved plaza projecting from the promontory at Morningside Drive and West 116th Street. Other studio assistants and associates of Bitter may have worked on the side...

The Carmel Mission chapel roof was rebuilt in 1936 by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) craftsmen to enable the roof to be covered in clay tile. This was a correction to a restoration performed in 1882. The full name of Carmel Mission is Mission San Carlos Borromeo del rio Carmelo.  It was established by Father Junipero Serra and his Franciscans monks leading the Spanish settlement of Alta California.  He is buried here.  At the time of the beatification of Father Serra in 2015, there were many protests at the mission.

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp NHP-2 was created at Yorktown VA for the purpose of developing the Colonial National Historical Park (Jamestown Settlement, Yorktown Battlefield, Colonial Parkway). Camp NHP-2 housed CCC Company 323, which had been formed in Fort Washington, Maryland, in Spring 1933, before moving to Virginia. Company 323, along with four other African American CCC companies, developed Colonial National Historical Park. This work would continue until at least the end of 1941 – essentially, the entire life of the CCC program. The CCC enrollees worked under the direction of the National Park Service (NPS), which had just taken over the job of...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (C.C.C.)'s Camp Toumey was stationed at Mohawk State Forest from June 25, 1933 to July 26, 1941. "Named for James W. Toumey, Dean of the Yale School of Forestry, CCC men from this camp lived among the rugged hills and panoramic vistas of northwestern Connecticut. This camp was originally designed as a camp exclusively for veterans of World Was I and, as such, the enrollees were older. But as the veterans' need for employment waned, younger enrollees were gradually added to the camp." Among other projects linked to from this page, accomplishments included: "fighting forest fires; making improvements...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (C.C.C.)'s Camp White, which housed Company #106 at American Legion State Forest in Barkhamsted, Connecticut, operated from Dec. 28, 1933 to Jan. 1, 1942. C.C.C. Museum: This camp was named for Alan C. White, who was a leader in the campaign to purchase the land that would become Peoples State Forest. The original site of Camp White is now used as a youth group camping area and the building site and camp roads are still visible. The camp had a tree nursery and built the Stone Museum as a natural interpretive center. The museum, nursery building, and camp office are...

National Youth Administration crews conducted various improvements to the Minersville cemetery.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) worked to restore the 107th Infantry Memorial at 5th Ave. and 67th St. in Central Park during the mid-1930s.

"The Columbus Monument at the south west (main) entrance to Central Park at 59th Street and Central Park West (and Broadway), created by Italian sculptor Gaetano Russo and dedicated in 1882. By the 1930s it was serverely stained by soot, its base was cracked by vibration, and natural veins in the sculpture itself were opened by vibration and weathering. It was cleaned and restored by the New Deal Monument Restoration Project under Karl Gruppe."   (kermitproject.org) As Carol Lowrey explains, “Gruppe was closely involved in the conservation of New York's public sculptures from 1934 to 1937, during which time, under the auspices...

"The Maine Monument at the southwest entrance to Central Park at 59th Street and Central Park West, created by Harold Van Buren Magonigle (architect) and Attilio Piggirilli (sculptor), dedicated in 1913. By the 1930s, fingers and toes of many of the statues around the base had been broken off by vandals, the bronze sword was missing, and the joinery and surface of the marble base were badly stained. In 1934 new fingers and toes and sword were created and affixed and the monument thoroughly cleaned the New Deal Monument Restoration Project under Karl Gruppe."   (kermitproject.org) As Carol Lowrey explains, “Gruppe was...

This sculpture of a panther was created by Edward Kemeys in 1885. It was refurbished and remounted in 1937 by WPA workers and continues to be maintained by the Central Park Conservancy today.

According to the Minnesota Historical Society: “By the 1930s, the boyhood home of famous aviator Charles A. Lindbergh had been badly damaged by souvenir-hunters. In 1936, the WPA began restoration of the house, which, along with the adjoining farmland, had been given to the state of Minnesota by the Lindberghs. Today, the homesite is a National Historic Landmark managed by the Minnesota Historical Society.” The WPA also put in two miles of footpaths, planted 4,000 trees and bushes, and built parking lots and other amenities on the Lindbergh property, creating what is now a state park.

"The CCC played a crucial role in landscape and restoration work of the 128 acre Chateau de Mores State Historic Site, which was opened to the public on August 7, 1941." (MedoraND.com)

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.  This lay the basis for the future C&O Canal National Historical Park.   The C&O canal, built between 1824 and 1850, is historically significant as one of the best preserved remnants of the great canal boom of the first half of the 19th century. Today, it functions as one of the major recreational assets of the greater Washington DC area. The canal...

The Chief Johnson Totem Pole was raised in 1901 and restored by Native carvers enrolled in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) between 1939-1941. The carvers trained at the Saxman workshop did the restoration work. The restoration work was part of a larger U.S. Forest Service program focused on the restoration of totems and Native cultural assets. The original caption for a National Archives image of the Chief Johnson totem reads: “The Chief Johnson” Pole is a fine example of Alaskan Indian totem pole carving. The pole has been restored at the original location, which property has been deeded to the Federal Government...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) developed the Chief Shakes Historic Site in 1940 on a 0.704 acre tract of land located on Shakes Island in Wrangell Harbor. The park was part of a larger U.S. Forest Service program focused on the restoration of totems and Native cultural assets. At the center of the park is a 1940 replica of an early 19th Century Tlingit community house. Nine totem poles surround the house—a Sealion Prince, Kadashan Red Snapper, Kadashan Crane, Underwater Grizzly, Three Frogs, Bear Up Mountain, and Sea Serpent. Seven of these totems poles are reproductions of older poles, while two are originals....

Tlingit craftsmen enrolled in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) restored the Bear Up Mountain Pole in 1940. The restoration was part of a larger U.S. Forest Service program focused on the restoration of totems and Native cultural assets. Seven of the poles surrounding the Clan House at the Chief Shakes Historic Site are reproductions of older poles, while two are originals. All were carved in 1940 as a Civilian Conservation Corps project. Part of the photographic material published on this page by the Living New Deal was provided by courtesy of Linn A. Forrest (1905-1986), a practicing architect who photographed the totem poles at the time of...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) developed the Chief Shakes Historic Site in 1940 on an acre of land located on Shakes Island in Wrangell. The clan house is a 1940 replica of an early 19th Century Tlingit community house. The house is surrounded by nine totem poles and it contains two posts that represent two killer whale fins. A 1970 nomination form for the National Register of Historic Places describes the formal qualities of the structure: “A central square fire pit is the focus of the structure's interior. The fire pit is surrounded by a planked platform that would have...

Tlingit craftsmen enrolled in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) restored the Kadashan Crane Pole in 1940. The restoration was part of a larger U.S. Forest Service program focused on the restoration of totems and Native cultural assets. Seven of the poles surrounding the Clan House at the Chief Shakes Historic Site are reproductions of older poles, while two are originals. All were carved in 1940 as a Civilian Conservation Corps project. Part of the photographic material published on this page by the Living New Deal was provided by courtesy of Linn A. Forrest (1905-1986), a practicing architect who photographed the totem poles at the time of their...

Tlingit craftsmen enrolled in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) restored the Kadashan Red Snapper Pole in 1940. The restoration was part of a larger U.S. Forest Service program focused on the restoration of totems and Native cultural assets. Seven of the poles surrounding the Clan House at the Chief Shakes Historic Site are reproductions of older poles, while two are originals. All were carved in 1940 as a Civilian Conservation Corps project. Part of the photographic material published on this page by the Living New Deal was provided by courtesy of Linn A. Forrest (1905-1986), a practicing architect who photographed the totem poles at the time of...

Tlingit craftsmen enrolled in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) restored the Kicksetti Pole in 1940. The restoration was part of a larger U.S. Forest Service program focused on the restoration of totems and Native cultural assets. Seven of the poles surrounding the Clan House at the Chief Shakes Historic Site are reproductions of older poles, while two are originals. All were carved in 1940 as a Civilian Conservation Corps project. A small copy of the Kicksetti Pole was sent to President Roosevelt in 1940 by the Tlingit carvers from Wrangell. Harry Corser describes the symbolic meaning of the Kicksetti Totem motifs in his 1910...

Tlingit craftsmen enrolled in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) restored the Killer Whale Totem in 1940. The restoration was part of a larger U.S. Forest Service program focused on the restoration of totems and Native cultural assets. Seven of the poles surrounding the Clan House at the Chief Shakes Historic Site are reproductions of older poles, while two are originals. All were carved in 1940 as a Civilian Conservation Corps project. Part of the photographic material published on this page by the Living New Deal was provided by courtesy of Linn A. Forrest (1905-1986), a practicing architect who photographed the totem poles at the time of their restoration,...