New Deal Sites – Living New Deal
Welcome
Donate
Admiralty Cove Shelter - Admiralty Island AK
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers built a shelter at Admiralty Cove as part of the Admiralty Island Canoe Route, created from 1933 to 1937. This route included shelters, portages, dams, cabins, boathouses, and skiffs and was part of a program to enhance recreational opportunities in Alaska.
The CCC structure serves as a boat shelter today and is located on the site of the Admiralty Cove Cabin.
Allegany State Park - Salamanca NY
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) conducted major development work at New York's Allegany State Park between 1933 and 1942.
Allegheny National Forest - PA
"The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) provided jobs to people willing to work towards reforestation of cut-over timber land and was the progenitor organization of the Allegheny National Forest.
A number of CCC camps and CCC associated property types are located within the Forest including planted red pine plantations, including the first such effort at reforestation by the CCC in the United States."
(https://www.fs.usda.gov)
"The second CCC camp in the country opened on the Allegheny National Forest. These newest enrollees came to the Forest from Pittsburgh, the hard coal region around Scranton, south Philadelphia, and the deep South. They were immediately put to work...
Allis State Park - Randolph VT
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) developed Vermont's Allis State Park during the 1930s. "They built up the access roads, constructed a massive timber picnic shelter, picnic grounds and a campground."
Allison Ranger Station, Snow Mountain Ranger District - Malheur National Forest OR
Located in the Snow Mountain Ranger District of the Malheur National Forest (transferred from the Ochoco National Forest in 2003), the Allison Ranger Station can be described as historically significant given its age and continuous use in the administration of the Forest Service’s responsibility for this relatively remote area in the Ochoco Mountains of eastern Oregon. The timber and summer forage have been important to the local economy’s lumber and stock-raising industries.
The Allison Ranger Station served as the administrative headquarters for the district from 1911 until the 1950s when the headquarters was moved to Hines, Oregon. At that time, the...
Anacostia Park: Improvements - Washington DC
Anacostia Park is one of Washington DC's two largest parks and recreation areas, along with Rock Creek Park. It covers over 1200 acres along the Anacostia River from South Capitol Street SE to the Maryland boundary in NE.
The New Deal improved the park in major ways, after the Capital Parks system was put under the control of the National Park Service (NPS) by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1933. New Deal public works agencies developed such key features of the park as Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens, Langston Golf Course and Anacostia Pool (see linked pages). Besides those major elements, improvements included,...
Bandelier National Monument: CCC Camp - White Rock NM
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built a CCC Camp, NM-1-N/NP-4-N, in the Bandelier National Monument in Los Alamos, NM, in late 1933. The first CCC company to come to the camp was #814.
In 1933, there was no road into Frijoles Canyon. A cable tram was used by the owner of a lodge in the canyon to transport luggage for lodge visitors, and this tram was used for the construction of the CCC camp in late 1933. Equipment included a truck which was disassembled at the top and reassembled in the canyon, an electric light plant, camp tents, and all construction...
Battle Mountain State Park - Ukiah OR
In 1935, a Civilian Conservation Corps camp was located at Battle Mountain State Park to improve that state recreational property. The CCC workers built a water system with drinking fountains and a large granite fireplace as well as placing picnic tables throughout the park.
The park is located on State Highway 395, nine miles north of the town of Ukiah.
Beach Stabilization - Warrenton OR
Stabilization of Clatsop County's coastal dunes was the primary work project of CCC enrollees from Camp Warrenton from 1933 to about 1940.
Soon after the completion of the south jetty on the Columbia River in 1913, beach erosion became a significant issue on the county's coastline as far south as Gearhart, Oregon. Soil scientists encouraged experimentation with planting Holland Dune Grass to stabilize dunes and to prevent road closures and property damage due to blowing sand.
By 1936, soil scientists and local residents already noted improvements. In 1940, the success of the experiment was established. A 1940 article in The Oregonian reported: "There...
Beddington CCC Camp Co 1127 P64 - Aurora ME
The current Deer Lake Campground in Township34 ME is the location for the Beddington CCC Camp.
Excerpt from "Official Annual, 1937, Civilian Conservation Corps":
"On May 1935, a cadre of men from Bar Harbor moved into the woods, thirteen miles off the Airline, a road running across country from Bangor to Calais, and pitched tents on the shore of Deer Lake, situated in Township No. 34. The construction began under the command of Lt. Tuttle, assisted by Lt. Wyman. From this cadre grew the 1127th Co., and near the latter part of July the Forestry department moved in under the supervision of...
Big Lake CCC Camp Improvements - Cloquet MN
From 1933 to 1935, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) planted 304 acres of “white pine, Norway pine, Scotch pine, and jack pine.”
Birch Creek Camp - Dillon MT
The Birch Creek Camp was located in Beaverhead County. The ranger station was on Birch Creek, about two miles above the campsite. A group of twenty-five Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers and one officer were first taken to the site location to build the camp in April of 1935. A total of 200 workers ended up at the camp. They arrived about 2-3 weeks after the initial 25 had arrived. Birch Creek was a “show camp,” meaning it was staged to impress dignitaries on tour for the Fort Missoula CCC District. The first major project assigned to the Birch Creek...
Blue Hills Reservation - Milton MA
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), Civil Works Administration (CWA), and Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted extensive development work at Massachusetts's Blue Hills Reservation.
Massachusetts Metropolitan District Commission annual reports detail the work of the CCC over time.
1933 report:
"In the latter part of June a Civilian Conservation Camp was established by the National Park Service for Emergency Conservation Work for State Parks in the Blue Hills Reservation near Randolph Avenue. The camp was in charge of U. S. Army Officers. The enlisted men in the camp varied from 212 to 145. The work of the men in the reservation has been handled by a...
Boise National Forest CCC Camp - Atlanta ID
The Boise National Forest CCC Camp (F-78) was located near Atlanta, and left permanent structures there and in Garden Valley.
From the National Forest Service: "In 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt established the Boise National Forest to protect timber and watershed resources in southwestern Idaho. The Forest Service added lookouts, campgrounds, and roads, assisted by hundreds of young men enrolled in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) during the Great Depression, Deadwood Lookout and Atlanta Ranger Station were built by the CCC—now available for overnight rental."
Also from the Forest Service: "Atlanta Cabin is located in the old mining town of Atlanta, Idaho, at an...
Bootjack CCC Camp Co. 1925 - Mariposa CA
This camp operated out of the location of an abandoned hotel in the former mining town of Bootjack in the Mother Lode area of California. According to various articles written for the local newspaper by the camp members, tasks performed were road construction, water infrastructure, and fire fighting. In late 1936, the camp was transfered to Tehachapi. I haven't had the means of determining yet if they returned to the location, since that was hinted at in the newspaper articles by officials of the New Deal.
Breakheart Reservation - Saugus MA
The Civilian Coservation Corps (C.C.C.) was active at the Breakheart Reservation in Saugus, Mass.
1934 Metropolitan District Commission annual report:
"Under Chapter 338, Acts of 1934, the Commission were authorized to purchase about 650 acres of land in Saugus and Wakefield, adjacent to the Lynn Fells Parkway, near the junction of the Newburyport Turnpike. This area, which has been named Breakheart Reservation, will be developed into one of the most attractive recreation parks in the Metropolitan District. Application has been made for establishing a Civilian Conservation Camp by the National Park Service of the United States Department of the Interior."
1936 report:
"About 3,000 man hours...
Bridgton CCC Camp Co. 1124 - Bridgton ME
The Civilian Conservation Corps built the Bridgton CCC Camp Co. 1124 in Bridgton ME.
"History of the 1124th Company. Civilian Conservation Corps.
On June 1st, 1935, Lt. J. L. Fearer arrived in Bridgton with a cadre of 23 men from the Rangeley Camp No. 2107, and Bridgton Camp No. 11005 was officially begun. For a time the Cadre was quartered in the "Exposition Building" of the Bridgton Agricultural Association. The members of the cadre worked diligently, and under Lt. Fearer' s direction civilian carpenters rushed the construction of the buildings. Lt. F. R. Blaisdell, Jr. was assigned to the Company on June 23,...
Burlingame State Park - Charlestown RI
"During the 1930s, taking advantage of the public works programs offered by the Depression-era New Deal, Burlingame became home to the 141st Company of the Civilian Conservation Corps. It was the first, the state headquarters, and one of five such camps in Rhode Island. Beginning in 1933, out of work young men, in their late teens and early twenties were put to work making roads and trails.
In addition they built fire places, camp sites, and picnic areas, while making recreational improvements to the beaches of Watchaug Pond. Forest management activities went on throughout Rhode Island, particularly in the aftermath of...
Calaveras Big Trees State Park: CCC Camp SP 22 - Arnold CA
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) provided the labor for the early development of Calaveras Big Trees State Park in the 1930s. Camp SP 22 was established June 1933, the first such camp in a California state park, and operated until 1941. Several CCC companies cycled through Camp SP 22, including Companies 709, 1821, 1921-V, 2940 and 3860. Company 1921-V was made up of World War I veterans, who worked in the park from 1935 to 1940.
The camp was located at the entrance to the North Grove, next to what is now the Visitor Center parking lot. The camp headquarters...
Camp Angeles Crest - Pasadena CA
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp Angeles Crest (F-384) was established in Oak Grove Park, in Pasadena, California, July 1936 (Oak Grove Park is now called “Hahamongna Watershed Park”). The camp was in operation until at least 1941, and for much of that time (perhaps the entire time) it was the home of CCC Company 903.
Camp Angeles Crest and Company 903 were chosen by the CCC’s Ninth Corps Area to create an education model for the Corps. “Such courses as erosion control, road building, surveying, U.S. Forest Service training, mechanics, etc., were included in the curriculum, and through this vocational training...
Camp Buckeye CCC Camp - Sequoia National Park CA
This camp was located on the boundary line of the south side of Sequoia National Park in the Sierra Mountain Range. Originally a side camp constructed by Company 4759 based at Camp Red Fir. Permanent occupation by the 1493rd Company, Camp Buckeye SNP-9 was October 13, 1937. The Company was organized at Camp Beauregard, Louisiana, April 1933 where they were involved in reforestation of 200,000 acres. In late 1934 the company was moved to Camp Maestri, located 9 miles NE of Bogalusa Louisiana. The move to California was October 9, 1937. Work accomplished by the 1493rd was highway improvement on...
Camp Elk River (former) - Elk River ID
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) established a camp at Elk River, Idaho, in 1933. It was designated as Camp F-133 (a Forest Service camp). Elk River is a small town in mid-panhandle Idaho, west of the Clearwater Range.
The main activities of the CCC enrollees were probably tree planting and road work. We know from the attached photograph that the camp was active in 1934 and CCC company 1238 had been installed there.
Elk River campground near the village of Elk Creek looks to have been built by the CCC and might be on the location of the former CCC camp. It...
Camp Greenbrier - Hines WV
Located on CCC Road, the Civilian Conservation Corps Camp Greenbrier was set up on private land in Hines, Greenbrier County, West Virginia.
Camp Greenbrier was under W.V. Division of Forestry and occupied by Company 1539, 6/23/1933 - 8/30/1935 and Company 2593, 7/1/1935 - 1/11/1936.
Camp Hope NJ Location - West Milford NJ
Situated near Greenwood Lake in upper West Milford, NJ, Camp Hope was initially developed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Company 1201 as Camp S-68 to house workers working at the Newark Waterworks. Following the closure of the worker’s barracks, the cabins sat abandoned for roughly two years. Freedmen Ernest T. Scheidemenn pushed for the County of Passaic to grant them access to the cabins at Smith Mills (now West Milford) instead of demolishing them to turn them into a children’s summer recreation camp “for the undernourished and underprivileged children of Passaic County.” (Paterson News, February 7, 1938, 1)
After being...
Camp Lacretia - Villa Rica GA
Located on the original Bankhead Highway, also known as the Villa Rica-Carrollton Road (1917 route) the Williams Family farm is southwest of Villa Rica, Georgia. The farmhouse was built in 1891 and the farm remained in business in the Great Depression. In the 1930s, Felix Williams with the assistance of the Carroll County Commissioner went to Washington, DC to lobby for a CCC camp on the farm. Their efforts were award a camp on 18 August1935. A portion of the farm was leased to the CCC. In 1936 the CCC built a road from the Carrollton-Villa Rica Road to the...
Camp Mercer - Mercer WI
Camp Mercer is a historical site/trail and serves as a piece of Wisconsin history by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Camp Mercer still exists in its current location and is primarily known for its trail that many can walk through and learn about the history of the area. Camp Mercer was built in 1933 by the CCC and became the headquarters of the northern woods of Wisconsin. The role of this camp was to station young men before dispatching them to neighboring locations. These men were noted in the newspaper written at the time, The Mercer Monitor, where they would...
Camp New Brighton - Capitola CA
A Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp was established at Capitola, just east of Santa Cruz, for the purpose of working on nearby California beach state parks, such as New Brighton, Capitola, and Sea Cliff. The California state parks system had only been created c 1930, so all these beach parks needed work on recreational facilities.
It was officially camp SP-24 (for State Parks) and was active in the late 1930s, but we do not have exact dates. We know that Company 5447 arrived there in late 1937, when the camp already existed, and worked there for some time on local parks....
Camp New Wood - Merrill WI
Camp New Wood, a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp located north of Merrill, Wisconsin, was created on August 1, 1934 and was in use until January 16, 1936. 4
When the camp started, 225 men were formed into company 2616 in Fort Sheridan, IL and were recruited to work at Camp New Wood where 15 men from Merrill joined them to collaboratively do community improvement projects. The equipment that the CCC workers used for their projects was located at the side camp (north of where the barracks were) and included 10 trucks, a tractor, grader, and various tools. There were 6...
Camp S-59-Md (Demolished) – Oakland MD
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp S-59-Md was located in what is known today as Swallow Falls State Park, Oakland, Maryland. It was the home of CCC Company 304.
The work of Company 304 included road construction and firefighting. From the park’s main parking lot, three CCC-built structures can be seen today – the park office, pavilion, and stone restroom.
At nearby Herrington Manor State Park, the men of Company 304 built a dam & lake, cabins, bathhouse and more. These structures are still in use.
The enrollees of Company 304 produced the camp newspaper Youghiogheny Digest (pronounced yaa-kuh-gay-nee). Numerous editions of it can be found at...
Camp Salt Creek - Three Rivers CA
Located on the outskirts of the Sequoia National Park, Camp Salt Creek was constructed on October 12, 1937 by Company 5449, SNP-10. The type of work done at Camp Salt Creek was fire prevention, construction of horse and truck trails, highway maintenance, & building and maintaining communication systems. Company 5449 of note captured 117 rattlesnakes that were sent to the Biological Survey in Washington DC.
The Company was originally formed in May 1936 at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. After training, moved to West Augusta Virginia May 27, 1937 to take over Camp NF-3-VA from the 2357th Company in Ramsey's Draft in George Washington...
Camp Tuna Canyon (demolished) - Tujunga CA
Camp Tuna Canyon (P-233) in Tujunga, California was established in 1934. For most or all of its existence (1934-1941) it was the home of Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Company 902.
Company 902 installed telephone lines for the Los Angeles County Forest Department, constructed several fire lookout towers, and fought numerous fires, including “the Brown Mountain fire of 1934, the Malibu fires of 1935 and 1936, the Tehachapi fire of 1936, the Bouquet Canyon fire of 1937, the Big Pines fire of 1937, and the Oakmont Country Club fire of 1937” (CCC Annual, L.A. District, 1938).
The young men of Company 902 also...
Camp Upton Improvements - Yaphank NY
Now the site of the US Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, Camp Upton (near Yaphank, New York), was originally "created in 1917 to house and train soldiers for the United States." Camp Upton and its surroundings was the site of New Deal activity throughout the Great Depression.
Four CCC camps based at Camp Upton during the summer of 1934 were involved with, among other things, "the clearing of scrub oak, the planting of trees suited to the type of soil ... the building of fire lines and fire breaks and construction of emergency water holes for fire fighting." (2)
The CCC...
Camp War (P-63) - War WV
Located on private land about 5 miles east of War and on the edge of Cucumber (town, likely a coal camp at one point) in McDowell County along WV Route 16.
Occupied on 11 July 1935 with CCC Company 3538-C. The C at the end notes this was a colored CCC camp. McDowell county was a heavily black community noting several entries in the Negro Green Book for decades. This is the only black CCC Company to serve in West Virginia although they worked also at S-77 (Camp Carver/Panther State Forest) and S-76 (Camp Kanawha).
This camp worked on fire protection and...
Cattle Corrals and Scale House (former) - Golconda NV
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) had a camp in Golconda NV during the 1930s (though we are not able to determine the exact years). While in Golconda, the CCC enrollees constructed "community cattle corrals and scale house". These facilities were still standing in 1992, but seem to have disappeared, as of a visit in 2020.
The corrals and scale house might have been in a site near the railroad, as shown in the photograph below. Golconda has fallen on hard times, and it appears to no longer serve the cattle or mining industries.
CCC Bridge (replaced) - Wheeler OR
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enrollees from Camp Nehalem were charged with constructing a truck trail, or fire road, along the lower Nehalem River to create greater access to the forested land in that part of Tillamook County. One of the first requirements involved building a bridge to cross the Nehalem River just north of their camp.
Construction of the bridge near Camp Nehalem drew attention since it was judged to be one of the largest bridges in the northwest built as a CCC project. The Oregon Journal reported: ". . . the boys cut the trees, hewed the timbers, mixed and 'applied' the...
CCC Camp - Callao UT
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) established a camp near the town of Callao, west-central Utah. It is unknown to us which years the camp operated.
From their base of operations in the camp, CCC workers constructed a road over Sand Pass and erosion terraces, fences, and reservoirs on range lands. They also built campgrounds (possibly in what is now Big Basin National Park).
When the camp closed, one of the camp buildings was moved to the town of Callao UT, where it was used first as a Mormon Church and later as an elementary school.
A site presently known as 'CCC campground', lying...
CCC Camp - Elmhurst IL
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) company 1672 built a camp in Elmhurst IL.
"In December 1933, Elmhurst welcomed CCC company 1672. The company consisted of more than 200 army veterans, and they quickly set to work building a camp near North Avenue and Villa Avenue to the northwest of town. However, their work orders were delayed, and in May of the following year the company was dispatched to Rockford. Camp Elmhurst was temporarily vacant until the end of that summer.
CCC Company 2602, under the command of Captain Leland S. Powers, arrived at Camp Elmhurst on August 10, 1934 with the assigned...
CCC Camp - Fort Stanton NM
In 1934, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) set up camp SC6-N across the river from Fort Stanton, New Mexico, which was a U.S. Marine Sanitorium at the time. The CCC enrollees carried out work on historic Fort Stanton, as well as soil conservation and forestry work in the region. The camp was active until 1940.
"As part of the ‘New Deal’ envisioned by President Roosevelt, a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp was built in 1934 across the Rio Bravo from the fort. The Fort Stanton CCC employed civilians in soil conservation, forestry and women’s programs, as well as providing labor at...
CCC Camp - Leeds UT
In 1933, a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp opened in Leeds, UT, at the site of a Dixie National Forest Service ranger station. Stone from Silver Reef, a nearby silver mining ghost, was used to construct the camp's four administrative buildings, which are now the only surviving CCC camp structures in Utah.
According to the Washington County Historical Society, "A large crowd attended the dedication of this camp on November 11, 1933. The American Legion conducted the program and the Dixie College Band played the music. Leeds, a town of less than 200, more than doubled with the opening of...
CCC Camp - Lewiston ME
The 1933 town report includes a photograph of a CCC camp, which was CO.132nd P-59 and operated from June 1933 to May 1937 for the Maine Forest Service in protection from insects & disease. It was located on the property of the Town Farm in the far SE of the city.
Advocating for New Deal Art