Description

From the James F. Justin CCC Museum website:
“Belleplain [State Forest] was established in 1928 by the state [of New Jersey] … Beginning in 1933, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) transformed the Meisle family’s cranberry bog into a 26.2 acre reservoir that was first named Meisle Lake and later renamed Lake Nummy (in honor of the last Lenape Sachem, or Chief, to live in the county). Three separate CCC camps operated on the property and the men who served constructed the forest’s nature center (formerly the main office) and the maintenance buildings, and created much of the present day road system, bridges, and dams. The Corps also improved vast tracts of fields and forest through release-thinnings, hand plantings, and other silvicultural techniques.”