Campgrounds and Cabins Sites

“The Klamath National Forest (KNF) was sponsor to numerous CCC projects and played host to many camps. Throughout the nine years of the CCC program, the Klamath National Forest had ten base camps and numerous spike camps – many of which were forgotten over time. KNF activities assigned to the CCC enrollees included vegetation clearing and CCC camp construction; administration building construction and building improvements (includes ranger stations, guard stations, lookouts, garages, etc.); livestock tanks and troughs; corral construction, drift fence construction; erosion control; trail construction (including the Pacific Crest Trail); waterline construction; well construction; fire fighting; blister rust control;...

“The Klamath Reclamation Project owes much to the CCC enrollees of Camp Klamath (BR-41) and Camp Tule Lake (BR-20). Between 1935 and 1941 the enrollees’ efforts, under the supervision of the Bureau of Reclamation, resulted in an expansion of the land area irrigated by the Project, and thereby increased the agricultural output of the region. Enrollees at these camps regularly worked on building water control structures of timber and concrete, digging ditches, clearing weeds, and killing rodents. However, some of the projects they completed were far from routine and demanded advanced skills and technical expertise. They also responded to emergencies...

“The Klamath Reclamation Project owes much to the CCC enrollees of Camp Klamath (BR-41) and Camp Tule Lake (BR-20). Between 1935 and 1941 the enrollees’ efforts, under the supervision of the Bureau of Reclamation, resulted in an expansion of the land area irrigated by the Project, and thereby increased the agricultural output of the region. Enrollees at these camps regularly worked on building water control structures of timber and concrete, digging ditches, clearing weeds, and killing rodents. However, some of the projects they completed were far from routine and demanded advanced skills and technical expertise. They also responded to emergencies...

The Kofa Refuge is named for the King of Arizona mine. It includes 666,641 acres of protected land. Kofa Refuge literature notes that the Kofa Cabin and upland water tanks for wildlife were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). In 1939, a CCC side camp was set up at the Kofa Refuge. CCC enrollees, most of them of Native American descent, worked to develop high mountain waterholes for the bighorn sheep. This work was part of a statewide conservation effort to save the bighorn sheep. The refuge is managed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service and is currently used for camping and hunting.

Kooser State Park in Western Pennsylvania is surrounded by the Forbes State Forest. "The park’s original design character was stamped by the Civilian Conservation Corps projects of the 1930s that established the existing lake and most of its use areas, its architecture and site details."   (https://www.dcnr.state.pa.us) "The CCC established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression built a camp on the western edge of Kooser State Park. The young men of the CCC built the dam on Kooser Run creating Kooser Lake. They also built roads, outdoor fireplaces and cabins. Much of their work can still be seen today...

"The Alexander Lake Shelter Cabin is a three-sided Adirondack style shelter built by the Civilian Conservation Corps on the Admiralty Island Canoe Route in 1935. The natural environment surrounding the cabin is unchanged from the 1930s. Since its construction, the shelter cabin has been maintained with materials similar to the original." "The cabin has a peeled log superstructure and shake walls and roof. The structure is well-maintained, and its current appearance matches its original appearance. The sill logs on the two short sides have been replaced and are beginning to rot again; the back sill log has been replaced and is in...

Pecan Bayou flooded the city of Brownwood in late September of 1900 causing considerable damage to the business district and washing away the train track that served the city. The citizens of Brown County looked for a way to control Pecan Bayou. They voted in 1926 to create the Brown County Water Improvement District. The water district acquired seven tracts of land for the purpose of building a dam on Pecan Bayou. The water district completed the dam in 1932 just before another flood swept down the Bayou quickly filling the reservoir. The Texas State Parks Board acquired 538 acres of...

This is a historic cabin located on the east side of Lake Guerin, part of the Admiralty Island Canoe Route. As reported on a registration form of the National Register of Historic Places, the cabin was in ruins as of 1995. “Civilian Conservation Corps workers built the three-sided Adirondack style Lake Guerin East Shelter Cabin as part of the Admiralty Island Canoe Route in the 1930s. It had a peeled log superstructure and shake walls and roof. The cabin is a jumble of flattened timbers and shakes, some bleached white and some moss-covered, with galvanized nails jutting from the wood....

"The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built the Lake Guerin West Shelter Cabin as part of the Admiralty Island canoe route. It is a three-sided Adirondack style shelter. It has a peeled log superstructure and shake walls and roof. The structure is well-maintained, and it looks the same as it did when built. The sill logs on one short side wall and the back wall have been recently replaced; but the sill log on the other side wall appears to be original. Several of the vertical posts have been replaced, and all the angle braces appear to have been replaced....

Both the CCC and the WPA worked extensively on Lake Murray State Park in the 1930s. The lake itself was completed in 1937 and opened to the public in 1938. The Lake's iconic Tucker Tower was started by the New Deal workers, but not finished until the early 1950s. An article on www.americasstateparks.org describes CCC work in the park in detail: "Members of the CCC constructed 10 state parks in Oklahoma, beginning with Lake Murray State Park, the first and largest of the original parks. Recruits began construction on park structures in 1935, two years after the inception of the CCC....

"Repairing and painting of park board buildings, including band shells, bath houses, pavilions, bridges, residences, service buildings and play ground buildings in the following parks...Lake Park."

The Wikipedia page for Lake Shetek State Park, indicates that both the FERA and the WPA played instrumental roles in the early development of the park, including roads, sewers, and the construction of several structures, some of which are still in the park today. From the Murray County website: Much of the early development and construction of park facilities was done by Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers. The workers were part of a WPA Camp which was located on Keeley Island, across the lake to the west, from 1934 to 1940. The camp employed 200 transient and homeless men. Initially operated...

NYSParks.com: "The park was donated to the State of New York in 1929 by Dr. McRa Livingston with the provision that the lake and park be named Lake Taghkanic. The lake had been previously known as Lake Charlott. In 1933 a Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) camp was established at the park. C.C.C. projects in the park included construction of the East Bathhouse, the East Beach, the camping and cabin areas and the water tower."

In addition to Mosque Point, the CCC completed many other projects at Lake Worth. The pictured National Park Service document lists the many projects built by the CCC from 1934-1937, including: foot and auto bridges, several shelters, picnic and campground facilities, roads, foot trails, landscaping, tree planting, drinking fountains, toilets, water lines, fire protection amenities and more.

Lamoille Canyon is the largest valley in the Ruby Mountains in northeastern Nevada. It is a spectacular glaciated canyon, known popularly as "Nevada's Yosemite" and is surrounded by peaks rising over 11,000 feet.  Lamoille Canyon lies mostly within the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, which extends in patches across all of Nevada. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) established a camp in the lower canyon in 1933 and did extensive work there from 1933-1937, under the supervision of the US Forest Service.  The CCC enrollees built the road up the canyon, built trails, and laid out two campgrounds in the canyon. The large Thomas Canyon...

In 1933, the Lampasas Chamber of Commerce raised $2,500 to buy 154 acres of land along Sulphur Creek and presented the land to the State of Texas as a site for a state park. Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Company 896 arrived the same year, set up Camp Miriam (in honor of Miriam "Ma" Ferguson, the Governor of Texas) and began development of the park. The CCC cleared brush and cactus, built gravel roads, a native stone entrance, a concession house, a low water dam, native stone picnic tables, barbecue pits, native stone cabins, a baseball field, and a polo field....

According to a National Register of Historic Places form for Lassen National Park, “In 1933, with the establishment of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), trail construction, campground development and road maintenance benefited from hundreds of laborers, who accelerated the pace of park infrastructure development….CCC workers provided most of the labor on spring clean up and road maintenance projects, including gutter line cleaning and slope stabilization. They built facilities at the park's developed campgrounds, as well as many of the park's 150 miles of hiking trails.” The CCC also removed dead timber (for fire prevention), developed scenic parking areas, made trail signs,...

"Beginning in 1935, the Federal Emergency Relief Administration began purchasing sub-marginal agricultural and forest land so that it could be converted to better use. In 1936, the National Park Service was given the responsibility of the Recreational Demonstration Areas. Laurel Hill was one of five areas in Pennsylvania and targeted for restoration and reforestation, and organized group camping and day picnicking. Beginning in 1935, with cooperation of the Pennsylvania Department of Forests and Waters, men of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) began building roads, trails, bridges and recreational facilities. Two CCC camps, SP-8 and SP-15 arrived...

Lehman Caves National Monument was established in 1922 and put under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service in 1933. New Deal relief agencies came in to aid the Park Service in improving facilities at the park to make it more welcoming to the public. First to arrive was the Civil Works Administration (CWA) in the winter of 1933-34. Relief workers made repairs to the water line from Lehman Creek to the caves, the cave trail and the modest park buildings by the cave. In the summer of 1934, workers from the Transient Relief Camp at Lehman Creek did general clean-up...

"Five thousand people were present for the dedication of the park on July 25, 1935. It was named after an able Delta planter and lawyer who was a U.S. senator from Mississippi in 1909-13. Park facilities were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps Companies 2422 and 5467 between 1934 and 1936. Only two of the seven original log cabins are left. The solid log architecture is typical of the buildings that the CCC built in parks across the nation during the Depression." (McGinnis, 163)

A site devoted to the history of the park (www.letchworthparkhistory.com) has compiled an extensive list of CCC work done in the park: During the Great Depression, Letchworth Park was the site of several Civilian Conservation Camps. (See the Glimpse of the CCC) The information highlights the work done by the CCC "boys" in the Park, and is taken from Annual Reports of the Genesee State Park Commission during the time period. Great Bend Camp SP-5 (in operation for 30 months) constructed the camp built 6 miles of 18 ft wide gravel road installed 400 ft of 6" under drain constructed 15 concrete...

The farm of Thomas and Sarah Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln's father and stepmother. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) reconstructed a reproduction of their cabin on the site, along with building a maintenance barn and gift shop. A CCC camp, Camp Shiloh, was located at the site. Its enrollees were WWI veterans.

WPA workers developed the Lincoln Pioneer Village and Museum from 1935 to 1936. Work also included landscaping and the building of cabins and a lake. From the State of Indiana's website on the attraction: "The Lincoln Pioneer Village & Museum houses hundreds of fascinating artifacts from the area’s historic past including a hutch made by Abraham Lincoln’s father, Thomas Lincoln. The Pioneer Village features 14 Lincoln-era replica cabins from Spencer County. This site was originally a WPA project." From the Evansville Sunday Courier and Journal, July 5, 1936: ROCKPORT, July 4—With both the democratic and republican nominees for governor on the program,...

A Pennsylvania Historic Resource Survey documents both CCC and WPA work on the park: "The CCC and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) jointly developed Linn Run State Park. There is some indication from secondary sources that the WPA constructed the cabins and other buildings and structures, while the CCC landscaped the logged area and constructed roads, water and sewage systems, and other utilities... Other CCC-built resources within the district include two stone foot bridges, an automobile bridge constructed of steel I-beams with stone abutments, and low profile stone cooking fireplaces."

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built cabins at Mohawk Trail State Forest and Savoy State Forest, MA, circa 1934. The architect of record was L. C. Roy.

CCC crews built this small recreational lake on Mill Creek in Mark Twain National Forest in 1940. It is at least partially spring-fed and tends to be clear. The dam has a simple concrete spillway. In addition to the lake, the project consisted of a trail around the lake, a campground, and picnic ground.

Long Lake Group Camp is one of two camps developed by the National Park Service during the late 1930s and early 1940s as part of the Yankee Springs Demonstration Area. The camp consists of two “villages” of eight cabins, each arranged in a semi-circle around a fire pit. They include a dining hall and kitchen and latrines. A bathing beach is nearby. As one of the many New Deal work-relief initiatives, the NPS’s Recreation Development Areas (RDAs) program constructed dozens of organized camps and park facilities on tracts of sub marginal farmlands for the dual purpose of conservation and recreation. Labor for...

The campground was constructed by the CCC in 1937, along with a unique stone outhouse built into the side of a rock cliff.

Originally named the Longbow Forest Camp, the Longbow Organization Camp is a group facility constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the Sweet Home Ranger District of the Willamette National Forest (WNF).  Starting during the winter season of 1937-1938, the CCC workers completed the campground during the winter season of 1938-1939. Their work was supervised by the US Forest Service. CCC workers from nearby Camp Cascadia (Co. #2907) improved the ten-acre campground along the banks of the South Santiam. They built six sleeping shelters, a community kitchen with attached dining, an amphitheater that seats seventy-five people, and a water system...

The CCC’s role in developing the park, as explained by the state of West Virginia: “During the Great Depression, beginning May 15, 1934, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Company 1524 occupied Camp Hardy, which was located near the present day entrance to Lost River State Park. By 1937, the CCC boys had built 15 standard cabins, an administration building, the superintendent’s residence, a swimming pool and bathhouse, a spring house covering the Lee Sulphur Springs (named after Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee, Robert E. Lee’s father), and several bridges and other small stone structures throughout the park. The stonework of these beautiful buildings...

The Lower Blue Campground was built in the mid 1930's by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). It involved clearing the land, land improvements, building steps, a stone wall, and a bench for campers. While today the campground that was cleared by the CCC is no longer maintained and now an empty field with the current campground on the side the wall, steps, and bench are still there just abandoned. An interpretive sign is near these CCC sites to explain.

When the state of Michigan was given 3,500 acres of logged-over land on the shores of Lake Michigan in 1926, it was hoped that the nearby Big Sable Point Lighthouse might become a beacon not only for ships but for tourists as well. Back then, the land was reachable only by foot or boat, and the state lacked money to develop it as a park. That changed in 1933 with the advent of the New Deal. The Pere-Marquette S-2 CCC Camp quickly went up on the state’s land and the young men of the Michigan Civilian Conservation Corps began shaping the...

WPA engineer C. D. Paxton designed this impressive octagonal community building as part of the federally funded project to rebuild the fairground in 1936. Master log craftsman Tosten Stenberg of WPA headquarters in Livingston supervised the building. The primary construction material is lodgepole pine, chosen for its uniformity and harvested at nearby Ramshorn Creek. Logs are bias-cut and saddle-notched. Poles radiating from a central lantern form the interior rafters and afford a floor space of one hundred feet in diameter. Besides serving as the main hall during fair time, the Pavilion has long been a favorite place for building memories,...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) developed Vermont's Maidstone State Park during the 1930s. "Maidstone was designated by the state of Vermont as a state park in 1938. The camp areas were wilderness, but the area around the lodge was a Civilian Conservation Corps camp. The CCC built many sites with fireplaces for camping, the lodge, and a picnic shelter, which are still in use today."

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed a basic USDA Forest Service campsite next to Sheep Creek in the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area.

"The first park land was purchased in 1921. However, the majority of the park facilities were not constructed until the 1930's by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Both programs resulted from the federal government effort to make work for Americans during the Great Depression. Their work included the stone lodge, Dancehall Cave walkway system, stone picnic circle and several hexagonal picnic shelters along the trail. Some of these structures have been restored and efforts continue." -Iowa Department of Natural Resources  

Company 1743 of the CCC was an all-black company that came to Mark Twain State Park from Washington State Park in De Soto.  There was initial resistance to having an all-black company in the area, but the quality of their work dispelled any doubts about them.  They were called the Thunderbirds.  The most obvious structures they constructed were the entrance to the buzzard’s roost picnic area and the shelter in the area as well as walls and the roads in the area.  There were more extensive plans that were scrapped with the onset of WWII.

McCormick's Creek State Park received the first Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp in Indiana. The 589th CCC company was active from December of 1933 to July of 1935. After the CCC laborers were relocated in 1935, WPA laborers arrived and continued to build improvements for the park. In 1940 a handful of CCC laborers returned to the camp. The CCC and WPA laborers contributed to a wide range of projects. The New Deal agencies helped create trails, shelters, a bridge, telephone wires, an amphitheater, dams, clearings for campgrounds, cabins, and more. To enhance the outdoors experience projects exhibited designs that...

Cabin #22-#26 were completed by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) laborers between 1934 and 1935. The style of the cabins are classified as Parks Rustic.

The Camp Na Wa Kwa Cabins are classified as Parks Rustic Style. The Cabins were completed by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) laborers in 1935.