At Acadia National Park headquarters
off Eagle Lake Road on Mount Desert Island, ME, in front of its visitor center
is a small plaque on a rock that states:
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| CCC memorial-Acadia NP |
The CCC was established in 1933
by President Roosevelt to provide jobs to unemployed and poverty-stricken men
aged 18 to 25 (later changed to 17 to 28) and to conserve the country's natural
resources. Almost immediately some 275,000 young men were put to work in forests, parks and public lands across the
United States. They were paid $30 monthly for their five-day workweeks during
their six-month tours. Of that, $15 was sent home to their dependents, $7 was
put into their CCC savings account, and they were paid $8 in cash. They could
re-enroll for a maximum term of two years. Promotions and higher pay were possible.
They lived in U.S. Army-run camps supervised by the U.S. Forest and National
Park Services. Reveille was at 6:00 am and taps at 10:15 pm Monday through
Friday for their work projects. Saturday morning was for work in their camps. Leisure
occurred on Saturday afternoons and Sundays, when they could, with permission,
go home or visit nearby communities. Voluntary religious services were held on
Sunday at the camps, but enrollees could attend them in their local communities.
George B. Dorr, Acadia NP’s
superintendent, saw the usefulness of the CCC and succeeded in getting its
help. Three camps were established in the Park. One was the Eagle Lake Camp,
154th Company, located in Bar Harbor at the current site of Park headquarters.
The second was the Great Pond Camp, 158th Company, located in Southwest Harbor
near Long Pond (formerly Great Pond). The third was formed from a CCC camp in
nearby Ellsworth and set up on the Schoodic Peninsula north of the U.S. Navy’s
radio station (now Acadia NP’s Schoodic Education and Research Center). These
camp workers completed hundreds of park projects, including helping to
construct roads and bridges, clearing brush and fallen trees and planting new
shrubs and trees, as well as building the Blackwoods and Seawall campgrounds.
They also constructed and repaired trails, among them the Ladder and
Perpendicular Trails and the Ocean Path on Mount Desert Island, and the Anvil
and Schoodic Head Trails on the Schoodic Peninsula. The two main camps were
among the country’s 100 camps that lasted the nine-year duration of the CCC program.
The Schoodic Peninsula camp ran from 1934 to 1937.
The demands of WW II brought an
end to the CCC in 1942. Over three million individuals across the country had
served in the program.
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| CCC memorial-Oconee SP |
"The
promptness with which you seized the opportunity to engage in honest work, the
willingness with which you have performed your daily tasks, and the fine spirit
you have shown in winning the respect of the communities in which your camps
have been located merit the admiration of the entire country. You, and the men
who have guided and supervised your efforts, have cause to be proud."
President Franklin D. Roosevelt
This
monument is dedicated to the honor and memory of over three million members who
served in the Civilian Conservation Corps, 1933-1942. And to the members who
built South Carolina's State Park System -- Oconee State Park -- Dedicated
September 2001
In fact, the CCC built 16 state parks in South
Carolina, Oconee SP among them. Twenty-six miles northeast of this memorial in
Table Rock State Park is the CCC-built lodge overlooking Pinnacle Lake at the
base of 3,157' Table Rock Mountain.*2 Eight miles north is the CCC-constructed Walhalla
trout hatchery.*3 Fourteen miles west of the Oconee SP memorial, in the
Chattahoochee National Forest of Georgia, is a CCC fish rearing pool.*4 A sign
reads: The Civilian Conservation Corps
built the trout rearing facility at this site. The tanks held fish to restock
trout in local streams which was accomplished by hauling the fish in backpacks.
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| Lodge-Table Rock SP |
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| Walhalla hatchery |
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| Fish pool-Chattahoochee NF |
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| Fish pool-Acadia NP |
It is interesting to note there is an identical CCC
memorial to the one pictured in Oconee SP on the state capitol grounds in
Augusta, Maine. It was dedicated on April 24, 2001. So far, 62 of these CCC
memorial worker statues have been dedicated across the country.*6
The CCC was a remarkable program. Its men and
achievements merit our remembrance.
*Footnotes:
1 Oconee SP CCC memorial coordinates: N34° 51'
55.632" W083° 06' 19.110"
2 CCC-built lodge, Table Rock SP coordinates: N35°
01' 39.839" W082° 41' 44.340"
3 Walhalla trout hatchery coordinates: N34° 59'
09.827" W083° 04' 19.036"
4 Fish rearing pool, Chattahoochee NF coordinates: N34°
52' 57.599" W083° 21' 02.967"
5 Fish rearing pool, Acadia NP coordinates: N44° 17'
56.700" W068° 21' 02.637"
6 For information about them see http://ccclegacy.org/ccc_worker_statue_program.html
