Mount Mitchell State Park – Burnsville NC

Description

“The newly established Department of Conservation and Development…immediately requested a CCC work camp for Mount Mitchell…

…the upper reaches of the East’s highest mountain underwent a remarkable transformation. Fire prevention crews fanned out along the trails and parking areas, clearing away brush and standing dead timber. Other workers took charge of trail maintenance, refurbishing all the footpaths, including the well-worn and badly eroded trail to the summit. The CCC briefly revived reforestation in the park, planting addition Fraser fir and Norway spruce. Just below the summit workers cut and hewed red spruce logs for a new concession stand, a rain shelter, and a ‘building to house organized groups.’ By 1939 the park had flush toilets and a new water and sewer system. The use of red spruce in the buildings on Mount Mitchell was no accident. As in other state parks around the country, CCC workers used an architectural plan created for the national parks. In keeping with the National Park Service deal of providing easy tourist access ‘without impairment of natural features,’ the structures on Mount Mitchell, with their spruce logs and shake shingles, were intended to blend into the surrounding forest and provide the state’s new outdoor enthusiasts with modern conveniences in a rustic, wilderness setting.”   (Silver, 182)