- City:
- Townsend, MA
- Site Type:
- Federal Facilities, CCC Camps
- New Deal Agencies:
- Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), Work Relief Programs
- Started:
- 1935
- Completed:
- 1940
- Quality of Information:
- Very Good
- Marked:
- No
- Site Survival:
- No Longer Extant
Description
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built the CCC Camp S-82, Company 1139, in Townsend, MA, starting on August 1st, 1935. Camp S-82 was located near an old granite quarry off Old Turnpike Road and the Boston and Maine Railroad tracks, currently still in place.
According to Shary Page Berg (1999), “Much of the area that became Townsend State Forest was burned in a 1927 forest fire and subsequently logged, leaving the land in poor condition when acquired by the state in 1934. Camp S-82 (Company 1139) was established in fall 1935 and closed in 1940. Projects at Townsend included the construction of roads, trails and water holes, forestry and fire hazard reduction; planting of fire-damaged areas; and creation of a 700-acre, fenced, wildlife area with wild apple, spruce and walnut trees. There was no recreational development at Townsend. Camp S-82 also build recreational facilities at Willard Brook and provided emergency assistance to local communities.”
Source notes
CCC Legacy, Massachusetts, accessed April 18, 2023: (https://ccclegacy.org/CCC_Camps_Massachusetts.html).
Berg, Shary Page, The Civilian Conservation Corps, Shaping the Forests and Parks of Massachusetts: A Statewide Survey of Civilian Conservation Corps Resources, January, 1999, Landscape Preservation Planning and Design, Cambridge, MA.. Available at the U Mass Amherst Libraries, accessed April 18, 2023: (https://archives.lib.state.ma.us/handle/2452/835790, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/127655#page/6/mode/1up).
Happy Days, May 30, 1936.
Vermont Historical Society, accessed April 18, 2023, (https://vermonthistory.org/documents/findaid/TracyCCCPhotoAlbums.pdf).
The Townsend Historical Society.
Site originally submitted by Gary W. Shepherd on April 18, 2023.
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