Vermont State Parks

Nearly 80 years after young men from the CivilianConservation Corps (CCC) constructed what is now Coolidge State Park , a new group of young people from the National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) is once again working at the park in Plymouth, VT. The eleven-member NCCC team, based out of the national service program’s Atlantic Region headquarters in Perry Point, MD, has constructed a 600-foot long fence along Coolidge State Park’s main road.  The fence will prevent traffic from entering recreational areas where children play. It is a continuation of an NCCC project from 2009, when the park’s visitor center was constructed with the help of a different NCCC team. The log-railed fence has been constructed much like the park’s iconic log lean-tos and picnic pavilion constructed by the CCC in the 1930s.  The NCCC team, Moose 2, spent three weeks peeling spruce bark by hand, and cutting and setting 20-foot segments of the fence. Like their predecessors in the CCC, much...

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 B...

Everything Old is New Again:  Join us in Celebrating the Grand Re-opening of the Historic Elmore Beach House Vermont State Parks, Waterbury, Vermont, June 20, 2011 Elmore Then If you happened to find yourself along the shores of Lake Elmore in 1936, you likely would have witnessed a crew of boys from the Civilian Conservation Corps hand-sawing local wood and sorting away at native stone as they built the original beach house at the newly created Elmore State Park.    Seventy-five years later, with only a few interior changes since the CCC first built it, that original beach house has been completely restored to its former glory, with the historic feel preserved and modern features added to accommodate today’s visitors. Come see it for yourself, first hand, and join us on Saturday, June 25th to celebrate the dedication of the Elmore beach house to the next seventy-five years of enjoyment and recreation for all Vermonters and their visitors: Saturday, June 25, 2011...

A couple of weeks ago on our facebook page we posted this photo of the rustic wood railing being restored at the Mt. Philo State Park shelter. Here's a cool update to the story:  The Seasonal Parks Maintenance Technician performing the work is John Robert Davine. John Robert’s maternal grandfather was part of the original CCC crew that cut and built the Mt. Philo road and summit area, including the shelter where the railing is being restored, in the 1920’s. John Robert's dad is Bob Davine, who has been a Parks Maintenance Technician for the past 25+ years. That makes 3 generations of one family caring for Mt. Philo! That's Vermont for you!

Seventy years have passed since Walter Edmonds, now 88, spent a year working on a crew building the toll road at Mt. Ascutney State Park in Windsor. Edmonds enlisted in the Civilian Conservation Corps. in May, 1936 at age 17 on the advice and recommendation of a high school teacher a year before he was due to graduate. "My gosh, this was all a meadow," said Mr. Edmonds, looking around the park entrance, now surrounded by 80-fot tall white pines. "Barracks #1, where I bunked, was built right over the stream there. It sung me to sleep at night." Edmonds spent a misty day in September, 2006 visiting with park staff and telling tales of camp life and work on the mountain. Mr. Edmonds and his daughter Debbie were treated to a buffet lunch and give a tour of the present day park. Mr. Edmonds spent a year with the CCC, starting out on the toll road “making small rocks out of big ones” swinging a sledge hammer, then moving on to the survey crew that laid out the trail sys...

For two weeks this July the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks, and Recreation’s seasonal State Trail Crew marveled at the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps. (CCC), not as observers, but as those who were bridging a 75 year gap. All the projects that the crew is undertaking this summer are in some way linked to the spirit of the CCC, but none as directly as installing an interpretive panel on top of Owl’s Head Mountain in the shadow of the intricately built stone hut. Owl’s Head Mountain is situated in the heart of Groton State Forest. It’s 26,000 plus acres, riddled by trails and specked with State Parks, makes Groton State Forest a gem for recreating and enjoying the outdoors. Driving down Boulder Beach Road, as you near the entrance of Stillwater State Park, your eyes are drawn north by the view and little imagination is needed to understand why Owl’s Head was given its name. In 1935 the CCC completed building a crown for the top of this haystack shaped rock. Many say th...