Survival: Extant

In 1937, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) undertook historical restoration for a number of sites in the National Parks, including the Civil War-era Fort Donelson battlefield.

Gertrude B. Kelly Playground was one of five model playgrounds designed after Robert Moses assumed control of the New York City Parks Department in 1934. These playgrounds were "meant to serve as templates for further playground designs and included standard features such as a play house, flagpole, chlorinated footbath, wading pool, handball and basketball courts, play equipment, drinking fountains, shade trees, and shrubs." (nycgovparks) Mayor LaGuardia presided over the dedication ceremony for this playground in August, 1934. A Parks Department press release announcing the opening of this and several other playgrounds explained that "The labor and materials for the construction of...

Beginning in 1934, 400 African American WWI veterans were employed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) to participate in restoration of the Civil War battlefield. As Timothy Smith writes in “Black Soldiers and the CCC at Shiloh National Military Park”: “Among the chief beneficiaries of the New Deal's job creation programs were Shiloh and other national parks, to which thousands of laborers were sent to construct, rehabilitate, and restore. In the case of Shiloh, the Civil Works Administration (CWA) employed several hundred local men from Hardin and McNairy counties on erosion control projects, road maintenance, and excavations at Shiloh's Indian mounds. The...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed roads, trails, and camps in this park. The CCC also built a number of lakes, including Pine Meadow, Wanoksink, Turkey Hill, and Silver Mine.

“As a result of colonial wood utilization and wildfires, most of the original forest was cleared and burnt over by the mid-1800s. The Massachusetts Game Sanctuary Association initiated reforestation efforts in 1912 by planting 30,000 white pines around Barrett Pond and East Head Reservoir.  In 1916, the State Forest Commission purchased the 5,700-acre Game Sanctuary Association property, creating Myles Standish State Forest (MSSF).  By the end of the 1920s, the state had purchased the majority of the land we now know as MSSF.  Today, MSSF has approximately 12,404 acres and is the largest public recreation area in southeastern Massachusetts. “After acquiring...

Sam Houston National Forest comprises three counties—Montgomery, San Jacinto, and Walker—that have been occupied for millennia. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed Double Lake Recreation Area, on the east side of the land, and surrounding a 24-acre lake, in 1937. Its facilities include “family camping units, group camping, picnicking units, a picnic shelter, swimming area and beach, and a concession stand with bathhouse. Each family camping unit has a table, fireplace, tent pad, parking spur, and lantern-holder post. There are units with water, sewer, and electrical hook-ups. Picnic units have tables and fireplaces” (fs.usda.gov).

"The Ratcliff Lake Recreation Area, built in 1936 by the Civilian Conservation Corps, surrounds a 45- acre lake. The lake was once a log pond and source of water for the Central Coal and Coke Company Sawmill which logged the area from 1902 to 1920. The area offers recreation visitors camping, picnicking, a swimming beach and bathhouse, concession stand, an amphitheater, an interpretive forest trail, showers, boating and fishing in a beautiful forest setting featured in regional magazines" (fs.usda.gov).

The Okefenokee Swamp had long been a site of habitation in southern Georgia. According to the New Georgia Encyclopedia, "An all-black unit of the Civilian Conservation Corps was transferred to the refuge, and between 1937 and 1941 they developed facilities there, which are still in use today. Designating the Okefenokee a wildlife refuge preserved the swamp but drove out its residents. Swamp dwellers were told they could no longer kill bears and wildcats in order to protect their livestock. The residents found it impossible to support themselves, and over time they moved away. All residents were likely gone by 1958....

"Like many of the newer forests purchased under the Weeks Act of 1911, the Daniel Boone (originally the Cumberland National Forest) was acquired by President Franklin Roosevelt’s administration for restoration by the newly created Civilian Conservation Corps" (nationalforests.org).

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built "log buildings, bridges, trails and developed several other structures for the park."