Intern Ellie Continues Her Journey - This Time in Allis and the Groton State Parks!

At Allis State Park I met an employee Frank, who restores structures at the state parks by replacing damaged places, such as rotting wood, while keeping the original structure as authentic as possible, resembling how it would have looked up to 80 years ago! Many structures in the state parks were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the late 1930s.

Allis State Park has a large historic pavilion with a magnificent fireplace Frank was working to restore. He explained various techniques and styles of the CCC construction. I’m not using the right vocabulary, but some are notched together by the logs themselves while others are pushed together to make it look like the logs were notched together when in fact they are actually stabilized using large nails. You can see these different styles in the historic lean-tos and shelters that are in state parks like Gifford Woods and Coolidge.

A cool CCC structure can be found on the top of Owl’s Head Mountain near Stillwater and Big Deer State Parks. Owl’s Head is (so far) my favorite place in Vermont. The trail to the lookout is about a five minute walk and I could spend all day at the scenic outlook at the end of the trail.

Other things I love about Groton State Parks: Boulder Beach State Park! With a sandy beach and great swimming (warm water too!), this state park even has snacks like hotdogs for when you get hungry from lounging or playing all day.

Speaking of food, if you decide to go in search of CCC structures, be sure to keep an eye out for wild blueberries, which are starting to come in season. They make hiking twice as fun.

-Ellie