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HomeMy WebLinkAbouttreman state park CCC 2003in289y ,rat:^.°lid — •t... -••'- When a CCC camp took our parks up These days, if you talk to any alumnus of the De aaeioncm Civilian'=rvation Corps, you'll invariably see a face light up as you hear a glowing and nostalgic account of what awon- derful program it was and how much good it did for both the country and its youthful mem- bers. In recent years, there has been a tremendous resurgence of interest in and admiration for the many enduring monuments to the worthwhile pmjects of the CCC. There has even been talk or startiga a similar program as a mmually bcncbdal wn)ma asset rite wwmpIcyed while accomplishing needed public works objectives. Whether that comes to pass or not, and whether one agrees or dis- agrees that FDR's New Deal programs were in the right vein, the CCC seems to be an American institution that, to use Robin Williams'words, "everybody likes." Why do so many former CCC men who per- formed hard physical lat or in all kinds of weather for $30 a month ($25 of which had to be sent home to their families) feel so much pale and nostalgia toward their long -past coop- com- ory of , and one that enjoyed of a0 of those in the , was Camp SP-6, Id. Ilea State Parks 1,000 ue was to provide the r needed for the manv eking for the Finger Lakes State Parks tmmtssion and the New York State mservation Department. During its heyday, some 200 young men NEIL A. POPPENSIEK/GUFSr CGLumNisr In the 19iOs, some 200 young men from the Civilian Conservation Corpswere truckedtowork sites in Enfield Glen (later Robert H. 'Reman), Buttermilk Falls, and Taughannock Falls State Parks. There they excavated rp flagstone and did masonry work, blasted, excavated fill. graded, Joated trees, shrubs and grass, built roads, bridges, and water ayctcros :rod erected park buildings. ad water — after sites u' — rcpaacu uamageu any cases they had only rely in a deep hollow along at fast consisting of large 1 on wooden platforms, occupied on May 13,1933. ed on June 17, with Camp Hermann C. Demcewolf presidi Initi� the camp's occupants were young men from Rochester and vicinity, but later they arrived from other places in Upstate New York. Almost immediately, in September 1933, Company 1265 ('Camp Enfield') distinguished itself by achieving first place out of 65 camps in the Army's Second Corps Area CCC camp inspection competition. Before long Camp Enfield's tents had been replaced by wooden buildings —14 of them to be exact. Four long, narrow, military -style bar- mclm each reportedly accommodating up to 50 CCC men and one Amry sergeant, and an offi- cers' quarters/administration building were clustered around a central flagpole at which daily rooming and evening flag ceremonies were condutted. Also on site: a mess hall, a recreation hall with a stage at one end, a large garage and sev- eml storage buildings, an infirmary, a pump - house, and a "latrine" building that also housed sinks and showers. Period photos also reveal a covered boxing ring between the mess and the recreation halls, attractive plantings, and a ringofwhite-painted stones around the flagpole in front of the administration building Just downstream from the camp grounds was a concretedammed swimming purl that was heavily used after working hours, during warm summer evenings, and on weekends. The camp commander lived in a small but comfortable cabin surrounded by tall pines on an elevated point of land across the stream and overlooking the camp. Over the entrance drive into the camp was a nutic archway constructed of two tree trunks and segments of branches that formed the letters and numbers "CCC 1265." Thomas Skudger, an octogenarian attorney who still actively operates both his law practice and his roller rink in Elmira, offered fascinating insights into life in this camp from 1935 to 1937 for a recorded interview with me in 1997. Mr. Sloniger started working on one of the road crews and later drove dump tracks, the supply track and an ambulance. He talked about the camp baseball team, the Ping-Pong champi- onship and boxing matches, the firm but kind supervision of Army personnel, and the good mea s. He reminisced about how warm the barracks buildings were even though they were uninsu- lated and heated by two owl stoves, one at each