Picnic and Other Facilities Sites

Constructed by the 742nd Company of the Arkansas Civilian Conservation Corps District stationed at Mena Camp, this was "…part of a small public recreational complex within the Ouachita National Forest…" (Arkansas Historic Preservation Program). The site includes two dams, a bathhouse, and a picnic shelter, which remain in use.

Acquired by the City of Portland in 1930, the ten-acre Overlook Park required improvements during the Depression years if it were to serve adequately the north Portland Overlook neighborhood, which had reached full development during the 1920s real estate boom. The site sits in a ravine and on  a former garbage dump; additional fill was added over several years to level the area. By 1937, the process of settling was complete and the park was prepared for more extensive development. In 1938, Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers undertook the largest and most significant part of the park plan – the Shelter...

The Owl's Head summit is one of the areas in Groton State Park developed by the CCC: "In 1933, CCC Company 146 from Rhode Island was stationed along the road to Osmore Pond. Approximately ¾ mile from the campground on the left, you will see the remains of a stone fence at the entrance to the camp, the Recreation Hall chimney, and cellar holes. Company 146 was responsible for building structures at New Discovery, Osmore Pond, Owl’s Head, and Kettle Pond... A stone fire tower built in 1935 is the highlight at the summit . As you are hiking to the summit,...

The CCC did extensive work in the park, including building a day use area and an impressive log and stone picnic pavilion on the shores of Lake Huron.

The Palisades Interstate Park system, a major beneficiary of New Deal public works projects, spans New York and New Jersey and stretches from The Palisades—cliffs overlooking the Hudson River in sight of Manhattan—to forested hills dotted with lakes in the western Hudson Highlands. The park system was founded in 1900 through the activism of women’s clubs that fought to protect the Palisades
from quarrying. They were aided by some of the richest men in America, among them J.P. Morgan, the Rockefellers and the Harriman family. Mixing civic idealism and the desire to preserve the beauty of their own region, they purchased or...

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) built the Bloomer's Beach Bathhouse and Refreshment Stand in the Palisades Interstate Park in Englewood Cliffs NJ. The Palisades Interstate Park Bathhouse served swimmers in the Hudson River until swimming at the beach was terminated during World War II. Since then, the Bathhouse has fallen into ruin, but the refreshment stand remains. The CWA also built the picnic pavilion at the nearby Englewood Picnic Area. By the 1920s the Englewood Picnic Area and Boat Basin was a vigorous facility with swimming, boating basin, picnicking, and ferry service that brought visitors from upper Manhattan. New Deal workers added a snack bar...

The Civilian Conservation Corps built the picnic area on Henry Hudson Drive near the Hudson River in the Palisades Interstate Park in New Jersey.    

Palmetto State Park is located on the San Marcos River between Luling and Gonzales, Texas in Gonzales County and is administered by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. The park consists of 270 acres of land purchased from the City of Gonzales and private owners. The park was constructed by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Companies 873, 886, and 1823(CV) between 1934 and 1937, with some funding from the National Park Service and opened to the public as a state park in 1936. The CCC built Park Road 11, a low water crossing on the San Marcos River, water tower/storage building, refectory,...

Paradise Campground is less than a mile and a half from the McKenzie Ranger Station on the south bank of the McKenzie River. This camping area was laid-out and improved by Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees from CCC Camp Belknap in 1937. When constructed it included both the current Paradise Campground and the adjacent Paradise Day Use Area. At the time, "Paradise Camp" was meant to serve as many as five-hundred campers. Today the Campground's 64 campsites serve visitors to the Willamette National Forest. The campground offers access to the McKenzie River as well.

Paradise Day Use Area is just a mile and a half from the McKenzie Ranger Station on the south bank of the McKenzie River. This picnic area was laid-out and improved by Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees from CCC Camp Belknap in 1937. When constructed it included both the current day use area and the adjacent Paradise Campground. At the time, "Paradise Camp" was meant to serve as many as five-hundred campers. In addition to the picnic areas with stone fireplaces/stoves, an amphitheater is located in the day use area. The log benches with back rests, laid out in two columns of...

Paris Mountain State Park was developed in large part by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). "CCC structures, including the Camp Buckhorn lodge, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places." The state park on Paris Mountain was built in the 1930s by the Depression-era CCC. Sixteen other parks in the state of South Carolina were also created due to the work of the CCC. The land for the park was acquired in 1935 from the city of Greenville." CCC work included the development of the entrance, road construction, a bathhouse and an office, picnic facilities, staff residences, a gazebo, the development...

The "Jefferson Lions Club Swimming Pool located at the extreme west end of West Whelan Street, one block west of Highway 59 North, also known as North Walcott Street. The site today is occupied by the Jefferson Independent School District's Transportation Building and parking lot for its school bus fleet. It was constructed by the , sometime in the late 1930’s. It was originally part of a City Park Complex that ran from Tuttle Street to Ferris Street (now MLK), and from West Harrison Street north to the swimming pool. It included the old high school football field, a...

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) provided labor to undertake numerous improvements to Grace Sprenger Memorial Park, the park at the spring along Beaver Creek in Amherst, Ohio.

"Conservation efforts began in the river valley in 1907 when the Patapsco State Forest Reserve was established. During the Depression years of the 1930s, President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) planted trees and built trails, picnic areas, campsites and handsome cut-stone pavilions to improve what had by then become "Patapsco State Park". Company 356 of the Civilian Conservation Corps made its encampment near Lost Lake at Camp Tydings in the Avalon Area. The CCC built the stone picnic shelters in Orange Grove and Glen Artney (not visible from the river). The CCC was also responsible for planting trees in...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed stone ovens and a stone comfort station at what was then Paxtang Park in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Wikipedia: "In 1938, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the football stadium limestone bleachers, west and north walls, picnic tables, fire pits, and various items in the park."

Pelham Bay Park, the largest in the city of New York (three times the size of Central Park), sits on Pelham Bay in the northeast corner of The Bronx. It was established in 1888, when The Bronx was still separate from New York City. The park was greatly improved by Robert Moses and the NY City Parks Department, with the help of federal New Deal funds and workers from the Civil Works Administration (CWA) and Works Progress Administration (WPA). On November 10, 1941, the New York City Department of Parks announced the completion of the massive overhaul of the 60-acre Isaac L. Rice Memorial...

"Perrot State Park is a state park in Wisconsin's Driftless Area at the confluence of the Trempealeau and Mississippi Rivers. The 1,270-acre (514 ha) park features spectacular views of steep limestone bluffs and the river valleys." CCC work: roads, campground, picnic facilities, trails, shelter

The CCC assisted in the development of this state forest.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) made extensive improvements to Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park on the central California coast, developing it for public recreational use after the state parks commission acquired the land in 1933.  The enrollees worked out of Camp Big Sur from 1933 to 1941.  We believe Camp Big Sur was located either at the present Main Campground or at the Group Picnic Area. The CCC built campgrounds, picnic areas, a campfire center, and several stone restrooms (comfort stations). They also constructed the main lodge with a post office and cabins.  To this, they added a park headquarters and administration...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) made extensive improvements to Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park on the central California coast, developing it for public recreational use. The state parks commission acquired the land in 1933, but had no funds for development.  The CCC worked in the park from 1933 to 1941, but the sources do not specify exact dates for each improvement.  CCC enrollees built three picnic areas (A, B and C) beyond the main campground. These feature picnic tables with stone bases and some stone cook stoves, as well as  and C two large picnic shelters,  a barbecue pit, and a...

Between 1938 and 1940 the WPA constructed 19 concrete and stone picnic tables, benches, and fire pits in Brackenridge Park. They are nestled among the trees along Tuleta Drive, just south of the Joske Pavilion. The concrete pads and stone water fountains were added at a later date.

Works Progress Administration (WPA) labor constructed a picnic pavilion in Greenville, Pennsylvania's Riverside Park in 1938. The exact coordinates octagonal structure within the park are unknown to Living New Deal. According to the Record-Argus the Greenville Motor Club supplied the materials used to build the pavilion and a plaque on the pavilion credits the club.  

The stone picnic shelter was constructed during the 1930s (after 1934 when the park was planned for development) by the Civilian Conservation Corps. The city of Roanoke hired landscape architect A. A. Farnham to develop a plan for the park, including the stone picnic shelter.

"A ca. 1938 picnic shelter at Tomlinson Run State Park is another fine example... Built by the CCC, it is a long, one-story, side-gabled building with massive, cut sandstone chimneys on each end elevation. The overall exterior dimensions are 70 feet by 22 feet 3 inches. The façade also is clad with cut sandstone, while horizontal board siding clads the gable ends. The central section of the picnic shelter is open and has large, square columns with oversized, slightly scrolled brackets. The structural framing consists of hand-hewn roof trusses held together with iron strapping and wood pegs. The interior of...

Built by the Works Progress Administration as a picnic shelter in 1937, still used for that purpose.

In 1940, CCC 'boys' from the Boonville Civilian Conservation Corps camp S-122 built the facilities at Pixley Falls State Park on Route 46 south of Boonville NY.  According to Podskach: "They made clearings for campsites and created a wading pool with a stone masonry dam on the stream. The next summer the boys built a 25-ft reinforced concrete bridge and the park project was completed."  Podskach also includes a photo (see below) of a picnic shelter presumably built by the CCC boys. The original picnic shelter is still prominent and there are picnic tables but no designated campsites.  A path down to...

Plumb Beach (sometimes spelled "Plum") is a beach along the north shore of Rockaway Inlet, across the creek from Marine Park. It was originally an island, but Hog Creek was filled in during the late 1930s. The beach area was extensively developed by the WPA. At the time, the Island was part of Marine Park. An August 1941 Department of Parks press release announced the "completion of the development of Plum Island, Marine Park, Brooklyn. This new recreation area provides a small parking field just off the Belt Parkway, 50 picnic tables and 40 fireplaces, serviced by a concession building, comfort...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) did the initial development work at Point Lobos State Reserve in the late 1930s. The CCC enrollees worked out of a camp at Pfeiffer-Big Sur State Park. Point Lobos was acquired by the state in 1932 after a major mobilization of local citizenry in Carmel and a national fund-raising effort.  Because the site and its seashore wildlife are so spectacular, F.L. Olmsted, Jr. was brought in to draw up a plan for restricted development that would preserve the place while allowing for limited public use.  That plan was adopted by the State Parks Commission in 1936...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) did the initial development work at Point Lobos State Reserve in the late 1930s. The CCC enrollees worked out of a camp at Pfeiffer-Big Sur State Park Because Point Lobos is  meant to guard the environment in a relatively natural state, the CCC work here was minimal, including an access road, a few picnic areas, small parking areas, coastal paths (with stone steps and bracing), and a couple ranger residences.    

Records indicate that Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enrollees constructed six stone drinking fountains with gabled shelters around the park in 1935. Five remain. The drinking fountains are classified as Park Rustic. They are not marked; only two sites in the park are marked individually as CCC.   But the old gatehouse is now a CCC Pocket Museum with exhibits and the Nature Center has an exhibit that lists all the structures CCC enrollees worked on.

The CCC conducted extensive work at Ponca State Park. From the University of Nebraska-Lincoln "Virtual Nebraska" database: "Over the years the Missouri River moved at will. Eventually the town was no longer "a port." In 1934 the American Legion raised money to purchase 220 acres along the river for a park. Over 2,000 people attended the dedication. The CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) built roads, buildings, two shelter houses, and transplanted 5,400 shrubs and trees. In the years that followed cabins were built and electric lights installed. The ferry boat, docked at the Bigley ravine, made regular trips across the river...

With financing from the Works Progress Administration, the Brazos River Conservation and Reclamation District (now the Brazos River Authority) completed Morris Sheppard Dam in 1941 creating Possum Kingdom Reservoir. The district transferred 6,969 acres of land to the State of Texas for parks around the lake. The original plans by the state included east and west units of Possum Kingdom State Park on opposite shorelines. Designers abandoned the east unit and focused on the west side. Civilian Conservation Company (CCC) Corps 2888 arrived in May 1941 and began work. The CCC enrollees provided utilities and basic services. They cleared the park...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) made the first improvements to the newly-acquired Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park.  Company 1903 worked out of a CCC camp established at the north end of the 'prairie' at the present park entrance in 1933.  The first order of business was to develop Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park itself, after which teams from Company 1903 worked at other state parks along the north coast of California.  The CCC camp closed in 1937. According to Engbeck (2002, pp. 21-22), the CCC enrollees laid out a day-use picnic area and a new campground with tables, benches, cupboards, and stoves,...

From 1933 to 1942, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) developed Prescott Park on Roxy Ann Peak on the east side of Medford, Oregon for public recreation.  The CCC enrollees constructed the access road, 18 miles of trails, several picnic areas and overlooks, and drainage ditches. Much of the CCC work is above the parking area and accessible only on foot. Prescott Park covers 1,740 acres on Roxy Ann Peak, a prominent hill east of the city of Medford (a remnant of volcanism in the old West Cascades). The lower slopes are characterized by oak savanna woodland and the higher elevations by...

"In the 1930s, the National Park Service created the Raccoon Creek National Recreation Demonstration Area. Men from the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the recreation facilities of the park and did conservation work on park lands." "The National Park Service built five Recreation Demonstration Areas through CCC and WPA labor. Near big cities to provide open-air recreation for urban dwellers, the areas were Blue Knob, Hickory Run, French Creek, Laurel Hill and Raccoon Creek. In 1945, these parks were given to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and became state parks." The CCC Camp itself is now listed...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) and National Y0uth Administration (NYA) aided  in the development of Rankin Park, a 42 acre park in the hills to the west of Martinez.  The city purchased the land for $12,000 in 1938 and New Deal relief workers went right to work, helping city crews and Boy Scouts develop the park for public access and use. The work teams cleared brush, planted trees, built roads, laid out trails, and created picnic areas with stone picnic stoves, as well as adding a ball field, a playground and sanitary facilities. (Contra Costa Times, May 28, 1939) More information is needed...

The Works Progress Administration built the Red Hill Park Picnic Pavilion in Purcell, Oklahoma. However, the facility is no longer extant. According to the Oklahoma Landmarks Inventory, "The Red Hill Park Pavilion is significant because it is the only intact structure remaining of a remarkable recreational facility created by the WPA." Contributor Note: "The picnic pavilion once stood atop this hill overlooking the Sharpe Memorial Park with its rodeo arena and grandstands. The pavilion once had two native sandstone pyramid supports on either side of the picnic area. A wood-shingled gable roof covered the area between the pillars (see B&W photo from Oklahoma Landmarks...

The East Bay Regional Parks District (EBRPD) was formed in 1934 and acquired land for parks from the East Bay Municipal Water District in 1936.  The first parks were Tilden, Sibley, Temescal and Redwood in the East Bay Hills behind Berkeley and Oakland CA.  The New Deal provided extensive aid towards improving the new parks (except for Sibley) for public recreation, working with the Parks District's first general manager, Elbert Vail. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) set up five camps in the East Bay hills and operated in the parks for the entire New Deal decade, 1933-42.   The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was...

The Annual Report from 1932-33 of the Los Angeles Board of Park Commissioners describes the role of federal funding in developing Reseda Park, which still serves the community today: "Reseda Park is one of the city parks located in San Fernando Valley at Reseda and Etiwanda Avenues, Kittridge Street, and Victory Boulevard. Being forty acres in area it provides a delightful recreational spot for the residents of San Fernando Valley. A great deal of improvement was accomplished during 1932-1933 with the help of the R.F.C. and County Welfare workmen. Fifteen hundred lineal feet of walks were built, involving the grading of 600...