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  • A. H. Stephens State Historic Park - Crawfordville GA
    "A. H. Stephens Historic Park contains tent and trailer sites, picnic sites, and fishing ponds, as well as a nature trail and rustic cabins, and was mostly built by the Civilian Conservation Corps, beginning in 1933." (wikipedia) The park "is located in a beautiful loblolly pine forest planted in the early 1930’s by the CCC."   (https://www.reserveamerica.com) The WPA also worked in the park.  
  • Abe Andrews Park - Norman OK
    Formerly known as Norman City Park, this site was established in the late 1890s and considerably improved during the New Deal: "Between 1935 and 1937, under the New Deal programs, several items were constructed in the southwest portion of the park. Work was performed by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, the Works Progress Administration with some work done by the National Youth Administration. A beautiful native stone amphitheater was constructed which is still in use today. The amphitheater is a semi-circle, with three sections of twenty rows of seating. The seats are native stone benches with concrete caps. At the rear of...
  • Abilene State Park - Tuscola TX
    "The Civilian Conservation Corps, Roosevelt’s first New Deal recovery program, built the original parts of Abilene State Park, including picnic areas and swimming pool complex. In 1934, the 507 acres were dedicated as a state park. According to the Taylor County Historical Commission, another CCC company, all black veterans, returned a year later to finish the effort, repairing roads and building a stone water tower." (Abilene Reporter-News)
  • Ainsworth State Park - Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area OR
    During 1935, Civilian Conservation Corps workers made improvements to Ainsworth State Park, thirty-six miles east of Portland on the Columbia River Highway. John C. Ainsworth, former chairman of the State Highway Commission (1931-1932) donated the original forty acres for the park in 1933. CCC enrollees worked on picnic facilities and trails in the park. Perhaps the most distinctive improvement made by CCC workers involved the stone work steps and fountain that provided public drinking access to the park's spring.
  • Alderwood State Wayside - Eugene OR
    Several years after the State purchased land from Lane County, Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees improved the Alderwood State Wayside. The work was conducted in 1935. As noted in the Oregon State Park's 1965 publication: "The facilities at Alderwood are not extensive, being a small area for parking cars, two foot-bridges, trails, tables and sanitary facilities, all constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps." Necessary maintenance at the wayside has resulted in replacement of some of the improvements but the basic lay-out remains the same.
  • Allegany State Park - Salamanca NY
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) conducted major development work at New York's Allegany State Park between 1933 and 1942.
  • Alley Pond Park - Oakland Gardens NY
    An August 1935 Parks Department press release lists Alley Pond Park as one of seventy-three play areas developed in the preceding year with "city, state and federal relief funds." The release describes this park as having play areas designed for mothers and infants, older children, adolescents and adults. Today's NYC Parks website confirms this timing: "The park, including 26 acres of newly constructed playing fields and the Alley Pond Park Nature Trail, the first such trail in the city’s park system, officially opened in 1935 at a ceremony attended by Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia (1882–1947) and Parks Commissioner Robert Moses (1888–1981)....
  • Alley Spring, Ozark National Scenic Riverways - Eminence MO
    At Alley Spring, the CCC constructed many trails, rock walls, 11 buildings, campgrounds, roads, restored the mill including replacing the floor, and diverted the slough adjacent to the mill to insure that it did not silt in. The CCC unit that worked this site consisted of WWI veterans.
  • Allis State Park - Randolph VT
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) developed Vermont's Allis State Park during the 1930s. "They built up the access roads, constructed a massive timber picnic shelter, picnic grounds and a campground."
  • Alvarado Area of Wildcat Canyon Park: Improvements - Richmond CA
    The New Deal made major improvements to the former Alvarado Park on the east side of Richmond CA, where Wildcat Creek tumbles out of the East Bay hills. Alvarado Park was transferred by the city of Richmond to the East Bay Regional Park District in 1985 and is now the "Alvarado Area" of Wildcat Canyon Park.     The park is known for its New Deal stonework, done chiefly by Italian immigrant masons, including a massive stone arch bridge across Wildcat Creek, stone light standards along roads and paths, and picnic facilities and stone stoves. The stonework is remarkable enough for the park...
  • Alvarado Area of Wildcat Canyon Park: Picnic Facilities - Richmond CA
    The New Deal made major improvements to the former Alvarado Park on the east side of Richmond CA, where Wildcat Creek tumbles out of the East Bay hills. Alvarado Park was transferred by the city of Richmond to the East Bay Regional Park District in 1985 and is now the "Alvarado Area" of Wildcat Canyon Park. The park is known for its New Deal stonework, done chiefly by Italian immigrant masons, including a massive stone arch bridge across Wildcat Creek, stone light standards along roads and paths, and picnic facilities and stone stoves. The stonework is remarkable enough for the park to...
  • Anniversary Park - Holyoke MA
    Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) laborers worked at Anniversary Park in Holyoke, Mass. Work included the construction of a recreation center and winter sports facilities.
  • Armory Park Additions - Minco OK
    Additions to this municipal park, which sits behind the armory, are noted in the Oklahoma Landmarks Database showing a Federal Works Progress Administration appropriation of $6,240. The additions include a performance stage, picnic tables and a fireplace.  
  • Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve: Improvements - Guerneville CA
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) did extensive improvements at Armstrong State Park, 1933 to 1941.   Over the years, CCC Companies 594, 1553. 1920, 1988 and 2916 were stationed at Camp Armstrong, SP-39 (originally known as Camp Armstrong Woods, P-804), which was located by the present entrance to the park.  The enrollees built an amphitheater, a community building (including warden's headquarters), picnic areas with stone stoves and tables of redwood, a timber bridge, two miles of road improvements, cleared underbrush, and made general improvements to park grounds and other facilities (Goddard 1976). Many of those features remain.  The amphitheater was under renovation during a...
  • Aroostook State Park - Presque Isle ME
    "In 1938, the newly created State Park Commission (which had been formed in 1935) recommended that the State accept a gift of 100 acres of land near Presque Isle. This became Aroostook State Park, the first in the State Park system... On October 26, 1938, it was announced that WPA work on the State Park would begin within a few weeks; with Mr. C.P. Bradford as the engineer. $7,715 had been allotted and that the first work would be the building of a trail on the west side of the mountain, a ski and toboggan slide, a ski tow, skating rink...
  • Babcock State Park - Clifftop WV
    "Babcock, one of the earliest state parks, covers 4,127 acres. It was opened on July 1, 1937, and built as a public works program during the Great Depression. The main facilities and trails were constructed between 1934 and 1937 by young workers employed through the Civilian Conservation Corps. The main park headquarters, 13 cabins, a horse stable, superintendent’s house, a natural swimming pool, and picnic facilities were constructed from locally quarried stone and American chestnut trees killed by the chestnut blight. The door latches and other metal work were hand-forged on site by CCC workers. The landscape had been completely...
  • Badger Park - Shullsburg WI
    "The landscape was planned and supervised by Phillip Wyman, a landscape architect from Milwaukee in the 1930's. This park holds an important geographical position in the visual landscape of the city. Badger Park is an 81/2 acre park, developed in 1934-1935 as a WPA project... The park includes a swimming pool, bath house, shelter houses, double tennis courts, concession stand, a picnic ground with fireplaces, tables and benches, a natural amphitheater commanding a view of two baseball diamonds and a football field... After the details were worked out, final approval was given by the federal government to start the park...
  • Banyan Tree Park Development - Lahaina HI
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) developed downtown Lahaina's Banyan Tree Park.  The park surrounds an immense banyan tree (a variety of tropic ficus) that covers three-quarters of an acre.  It is the largest and best known tree in Hawai'i. There is a stone marker in the park that says the WPA built the park, which presumably means that relief workers landscaped the park, added paving and built benches. It appears that the benches have been replaced recently. A massive wildfire burned through Lahaina in August 2023 and scorched the famous Banyan Tree; it is unknown to Living New Deal whether the tree and park...
  • Bass River State Forest Improvements - Tuckerton NJ
    "The CCC camp at Bass River State Forest, Camp S-55, lasted from 1933 to 1942, throughout the entire life of CCC. ... There were usually 200 men at the camp, which was a full complement. The CCC members performed wide range of conservation work. The young men of the CCC built park roads, trails, bridle paths, bridges for vehicles, ponds for fish and waterfowl, lookout towers, nature observatory shelters, picnic areas, cabins, fireplaces, campgrounds, recreational lakes, and landscaping. The most noteworthy feat was the creation of the 67-acre Lake Absegami, by damming two streams flowing through the forest."
  • Battle Mountain State Park - Ukiah OR
    In 1935, a Civilian Conservation Corps camp was located at Battle Mountain State Park to improve that state recreational property. The CCC workers built a water system with drinking fountains and a large granite fireplace as well as placing picnic tables throughout the park. The park is located on State Highway 395, nine miles north of the town of Ukiah.  
  • Beaver Lake State Park - Burnstad ND
    Beaver Lake State Park, located two miles northeast of the town of Burnstad, North Dakota and about 15 miles NNW as the crow flies from Wishek, is "a recreational area developed by WPA labor."
  • Benson County Park (former) - Wood Lake ND
    "On the northwestern shore" of Wood Lake, in Wood Lake Township, North Dakota, is the BENSON COUNTY PARK (_picnicking and camping_), a 40-acre tract improved under the Works Progress Administration in 1937." The park, whose current status is unknown to Living New Deal, is about two miles southwest of Tokio, North Dakota as the crow flies.
  • Benson State Recreation Area (New Benson Park) - Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area OR
    In 1933, the City of Portland gave permission to the federal government to establish a Civilian Conservation Camp (CCC) in its Columbia River Gorge Park. What had been Benson Park became CCC Camp Benson. Between 1933 and 1935, CCC enrollees groomed the surrounding parkland, creating the New Benson Park. Today, the lowland, timbered park serves as a day use picnic area with swimming and fishing in the park’s Benson Lake. It also serves as the western anchor to a system of trails connecting Multnomah Falls to the east and Wahkeena Falls to the south. The work of the CCC established these amenities...
  • Big Basin Redwoods State Park Improvements - Boulder Creek CA
    During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) installed a camp at Big Basin, California's first state park (1901), and built a variety of facilities for public recreation.   Big Basin was saved through the efforts of Sempervirens Club (now Fund), as one of the last and largest groves of giant coast redwoods left in the Santa Cruz Mountains. CCC men built the park headquarters (1936), an amphitheater of redwood logs, campgrounds, other park buildings and miles of trails, and probably roads and water lines, as well. For 75 years, those facilities remained virtually unchanged (one footbridge across...
  • Big Biloxi Recreational Area: DeSoto National Forest - Saucier MS
    A recreation area was constructed in the Biloxi Unit of the DeSoto National forest, including a bath house with water from an artesian well, and nine picnic areas with graveled paths. Tables, chairs and cooking pits were planned from brick or stone, and a picnic shed of “native materials” was under construction. The site was dedicated in June 1937. Located ¼ mile east of old Hwy 49 and 23 miles south of Wiggins, the site was constructed by camp 10, a CCC camp comprised of African Americans. The area cost approximately $14,000 and included the bath house with native cypress...
  • Big Spring State Park - Big Spring TX
    "Dramatic views off of the 200-foot bluff and from the CCC-built loop road are among the featured attractions of this 382-acre park. Early morning or sunset, joggers, walkers and cyclists circle the loop, enjoying these views as they exercise. An elaborate Fourth of July fireworks display is one of the largest in the region. Other activities include picnicking, nature study and sightseeing." CCC construction: Entrance Portals, Park Road 8, Culverts, Bridges, Concession Building (currently park offices), Keeper’s Dwelling, Stone Pavilion, Restrooms, Picnic Tables, Stone Steps, and Retaining Walls. An amphitheater was designed, started, but not completed. A Stone Pump House and...
  • Blackledge River Fishing Access - Colchester CT
    "Camp Stuart's enrollees built fishing access for disabled veterans of World War I along several pools of the Blackledge River. This was one of the earliest attempts to provide fishing access for the handicapped."
  • Bonham State Park - Bonham TX
    The state acquired the land for Bonham State Park in 1933 from the City of Bonham. The Civilian Conservation Corps developed the 261-acre park, landscaping the rocky, hilly terrain for erosion control and recreational purposes, and constructing an earthen dam to impound a sixty-five-acre lake. CCC Company 894 constructed buildings of local cream-colored limestone and Eastern red cedar, working under the supervision of Bonham architect Joe C. Lair and San Antonio architect William C. Caldwell. The overall design exhibits a WPA rustic style. The CCC built the entrance portal, concession building (currently the park headquarters and storage facility), waterfront storage building...
  • Booker T. Washington State Park - Chattanooga TN
    Constructed with funds and labor from the Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Booker T. Washington State Park was established in 1938 as a segregated recreational facility for African Americans, the second such facility in the state of Tennessee (the other being T. O. Fuller State Park near Memphis). The park is situated on Lake Chickamauga, which was created with the construction of the Chickamauga Dam by the Tennessee Valley Authority. The nearby Harrison Bay State Park was built at the same time for white Tennesseans. Tennessee parks were formally desegregated in 1964 with the passage of...
  • Boy Scout Hut - Watonga OK
    On the northwest corner of 6th and Leach, this Boy Scout Hut is located in a park area. This is a one-story native stone building, with an entrance facing east and located in a slight projected portion of the building. A sign shows that it is occupied as a hut for Cub Scout Pack 183. It was constructed in 1935 with an appropriation of $9,806. The roof is hipped and covered with composition shingles. The entrance projection has a reversed gable. The windows are currently large one-over-one double hung, with a couple of them covered with metal siding. An historical photo...
  • Braithwaite Park - Braithwaite LA
    Braithwaite Park is "a 32-acre WPA-built recreation area containing picnic grounds, a bathing beach, tennis courts, a baseball diamond, and a dance pavilion." The park, with different amenities, is still in use today.
  • Breakheart Reservation - Saugus MA
    The CCC conducted extensive work on Breakheart Reservation to turn it into a public park. From the Friends of Breakheart Reservation website: “undreds of men lived and worked here, paid $30 a month, out of which they kept $5 and sent the rest home to their families. It was the CCC who helped develop this land into a recreational area with bridle paths, trails, and picnic areas.” From Wikipedia: "In 1934 the executors for Johnson and Clough sold the Breakheart Hill Forest to the Metropolitan District Commission for upwards of $40,000. The MDC then turned the land over to the Civilian...
  • Bridger Canyon Improvements - Bozeman MT
    "Six miles northeast of Bozeman in Bridger canyon another camp has been built under the supervision of the forest service. Youths cleared underbrush from a three and one-half acre plot, thinned trees and placed tables and benches."
  • Bryan Park - Valentine NE
    Just east of the Bryan Bridge across the Niobrara, the Veterans Conservation Corps completed a little park on 1.46 acres of ground purchased by the state for park purposes. A driveway was built at the east and south corner of the bridge. In the canyons and timber at the river’s edge, a footbridge was built, tables constructed, an oven built of concrete, and underbrush cleared away. Nearby residents considered the park one of the outstanding beauty spots of the state, taking advantage of the natural resources of the site for a marvelous park.
  • Burlingame State Park - Charlestown RI
    "During the 1930s, taking advantage of the public works programs offered by the Depression-era New Deal, Burlingame became home to the 141st Company of the Civilian Conservation Corps. It was the first, the state headquarters, and one of five such camps in Rhode Island. Beginning in 1933, out of work young men, in their late teens and early twenties were put to work making roads and trails. In addition they built fire places, camp sites, and picnic areas, while making recreational improvements to the beaches of Watchaug Pond. Forest management activities went on throughout Rhode Island, particularly in the aftermath of...
  • Cacapon State Park - Berkeley Springs WV
    According to the West Virginia Department of Commerce: “Cacapon Resort State Park was the first CCC state park to be completed. Camp Morgan was established October 4, 1934 in what is now the main picnic area in the park. The land was devastated by clear-cutting of the timber and by poor agricultural practices of small subsistence farmers during the Great Depression. The men were responsible for the construction of 27 miles of roads and trails within the park, bath house, lake, dam and beach, picnic areas and shelters, stables, supply house, staff residences and rental cabins. The 12-room Old Inn was...
  • Caddo Lake State Park - Karnack TX
    According to the Caddo Lake State Park History website, the cabins, pavilion, and trails were begun by Company 889 (June-November, 1933) and completed by Company 857 (October 1934-March 1937). Some of the original picnic benches remain, as do remnants of the original trails. The pavilion is no longer in use, though other buildings remain in use.
  • Camp Sisters Improvements - Camp Sherman OR
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp Sisters (F-110, Company #1454) at Camp Sherman, Oregon operated near the headwaters of the Metolius River in Jefferson County from 1933 to 1942. It was just one of the average 60 CCC camps that worked each year in the state during that period. Originally planned to be near Sisters, Oregon rather than at the unincorporated Camp Sherman site, its name tends to confuse Oregonians. The CCC, however, found this position on the Metolius more in keeping with project needs so located it where the (Camp Sherman) Riverside Campground is found today. The CCC men constructed...
  • Camp Upton Improvements - Yaphank NY
    Now the site of the US Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, Camp Upton (near Yaphank, New York), was originally "created in 1917 to house and train soldiers for the United States." Camp Upton and its surroundings was the site of New Deal activity throughout the Great Depression. Four CCC camps based at Camp Upton during the summer of 1934 were involved with, among other things, "the clearing of scrub oak, the planting of trees suited to the type of soil ... the building of fire lines and fire breaks and construction of emergency water holes for fire fighting." (2) The CCC...
  • Campgrounds and Picnic Areas - Death Valley National Park CA
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was present in Death Valley National Monument  from 1933 to 1942.  Among their many projects in the monument, the CCC 'boys' created five campgrounds and picnic areas. Texas Spring campground was the first and largest, and it remains the best preserved; it includes seven stone picnic tables and stone comfort station (restroom).  Two other campgrounds areas are also located around Furnace Creek, the park headquarters and visitors center.  The Sunset area on the east side of highway 190 serves mostly trailers and Furnace Creek campground and picnic area lies the visitors' center.   Emigrant Junction campground is...
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