After park manager Andre told us about the CCC’s work on Liberty Lake just in front of the park office, we couldn’t wait to see what the camp had to offer for us explorers. Early one afternoon we drove down a dirt road in the park and parked in front of this locked gate with Camp Stephens in iron over it. The distance to the camp was about 1/4 of a mile; easy walk.
We’re ready for another walk in the woods.
The first building we saw was Unit 1 Lodge. After looking at the map, we saw that this camp had 4 units that looked just like the one we’ll be showing you. It’s a pretty big group campground.
Inside was this beautiful stone fireplace built by the CCC and more beds. This building was probably intended to be a central meeting place.
Next we saw the first of about 7 cabins for sleeping. Each had 4 beds and a closet with 4 slots for hanging clothes.
a bathhouse for all of unit 1 campers
More sleeping cabins are nestled in the woods with a large, grassy area in front of them.
Off by itself is an infirmary.
The unit also had this craft shop with another beautiful stone fireplace.
This large dining room is in a central location since it serves all 4 units.
Beautiful wood inside the dining room. Can’t you just hear the happy sounds of campers eating here?
This modern commercial kitchen is ready to serve groups coming here.
We so enjoyed seeing this updated group campground that the CCC workers had originally built almost 100 years ago.
beginnings of the CCC
In 1916, Teddy Roosevelt and others created the National Park Service, an agency of the United States federal government that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations. (Wikipedia)
In 1933 FDR started putting his vision into action for national and state parks for us all to enjoy using so many out-of-work men. Because the Park Service was already in place, that staff could lead the way to figuring out how to conserve our national resources.
CCC elsewhere in the park
In our campground, this sign about the CCC was next to a significant example of their work, the observation/water tower.
Here’s what the sign looks like. Now for the details.
FDR inherited the Great Depression (see the next post for its causes) in our economically challenged nation. He created several stimulus programs called the New Deal. One of the programs was the CCC to promote outdoor labor projects around the nation.
In this park the legacy of the CCC is a 60-foot combination fire observation/water tower right in the middle of our campground. It was completed in 1935 and was the water source for the camp and later the park. Mid-way up the tower was a large water tank filled with water pumped from a spring house lower down the hill between the tower and the lake.
The architectural styles of the tower and other park buildings were probably inspired by the Greek Revival movement popular in the South before the Civil War. We’ll see this tower and more information about it later on this post.
Here are the stats of what the Georgia’s CCC enrollees accomplished. We owe so much to them.
more stats
The officers who led these young men and helped them grow up.
Another look at what this company accomplished during their 2 years at this park. The living area for the CCC enrollees looks nothing like what they built for us.
the famous tower
Since we’re going to be looking at this tower, we’re giving you a second look since it’s so impressive.
The sign reads “A symbol of the accomplishments of the Civilian Conservation Corps work in building A. H. Stephens State Park is this 60 foot observation tower. Completed in 1935, the tower was equipped with a 3500 gallon tank which fed various park facilities.”
The camp host unlocked the door so we could walk around to see the museum and the inside of the tower.
This poster reviews the 1920s and 1930s. 1920s top row: crazy dancing, Louis Armstrong, the Great Migration of southern African Americans to northern cities, mass production of automobiles that resulted in mobility, and finally the Wall Street crash at the end of the decade. 1930s bottom row: the Dust Bowl left thousands of families homeless and on their way westward in search of relief, so many out of work, FDR’s New Deal.
So I wondered what the Dust Bowl was all about. I knew when it happened and that it prompted mass migration around the U.S., but what started it? Online searches are so helpful!
Per www.science.howstuffworks.com: “Economic depression coupled with extended drought, unusually high temperatures, poor agricultural practices and the resulting wind erosion all contributed to making the Dust Bowl. The seeds of the Dust Bowl may have been sowed during the early 1920s.”
Per www.softschools.com: The Dust Bowl is also often referred to as the Dirty Thirties. Some of the reasons that the Dust Bowl occurred were over-farming, livestock over-grazing, drought and poor farming practices. There were more than 100 million acres of land affected by the Dust Bowl. There were 14 dust storms in 1932 on the Great Plains.”
Per Wikipedia: “The Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s; severe drought and a failure to apply dryland farming methods to prevent the aeolian [erosion by wind] processes caused the phenomenon.”
Sounds like the making of a perfect storm.
Also in the 1930s was jazz at the Cotton Club and FDR’s fireside chats throughout his presidency when he talked with the nation over radio. And then Hawaii was bombed in 1942, and we entered WWII.
Long lines in cities for jobs and food were the norm during the 1930s.
more CCC facts
After a decade of wealth and excess in post-WWI America, the roaring twenties came to a crumbling halt when the stock market crashed in 1928 known as Black Tuesday. When FDR took office, he called citizens to action in his inaugural speech in 1933. The CCC was born.
Here’s a map of Georgia’s state parks built by the CCC. We’re at Camp Liberty as it was known then.
tools used by the CCC
While I’m not always interested in tools, you may like seeing them, so I’m including these pictures (and I’m learning so much by doing so).
I was intrigued by the lettering irons at the bottom of the picture since we’ve seen the signs they were used on all over both of the parks we’ve been to this week.
The irons were used to “brand” or burn letters into boards to produce many of the early wooden signs.
Augers like this were used like a large drill. It would have been used by hand to create holes in logs and boards when building everything from buildings to picnic shelters.
This bit brace was used with a bit to manually drill holes in wood. The offset handle could be turned as pressure was applied to the round, wooden cap piece. Bit braces like this were more precise than the auger.
Here are two views of this marking gauge that was used to mark multiple boards with the same measurements for cutting. This tool saved the CCC workers valuable time.
Now this tool caught my attention because it looked so different from what I’ve ever seen. It’s a melting (or smelting) stove made at the time by Clayton & Lambert to melt lead and other materials used for construction and pipe sealing. Pine pitch may also have been heated and used as a sealant. Almost looked like a coffee pot to me.
the company in different areas
The CCC company that worked here was formed in Alabama and soon transferred here. They named their new home Camp Liberty because of the home and outbuildings they helped restore. We’ll show you this home at the end of the post.
In 1935 the company moved to Louisiana to work on another park. Three years later they moved on to another area in Louisianan to work on a park there.
Many of the CCC camps developed their own newsletters as a way of sharing daily life, camp news, articles on patriotism, hygiene, work safety, jokes, cartoons, community events, and ads for local businesses. These newsletters became more sophisticated over time.
As more and more people had cars and could move around more easily, they wanted inexpensive places to go to and stay at, so more national and state parks were being built. The park we’re at is Georgia’s 3rd state park after the state’s park system was created in 1931. In 1933 a company was sent to Crawfordville, Ga., to begin phase I of what is now called A.H. Stephens State Historic Park.
Here are the wading pool and bath house that they built.
Trees were planted and bridges and roads were built.
While it may be more cost-effective to tear down a building and build a new one, preserving and restoring the original structures are a better way to go for our sake.
The tower restoration took over 2 years to complete. Materials used for replacement will keep this tower standing for a long time.
3 benefits: Preserving retains historic fabric through conservation, maintenance, and repair Renovating helps maintain the structures by using newer materials Restoring uses original materials from the most significant time in the property’s history while removing materials from other periods of time keeps the structures in good condition
As we walked up the stairs we could see the wood and steel construction.
The water tank is stored mid-way up the tower.
Originally the tank filled this entire room, but when the stairs were added for our benefit, the tank was made smaller. Leftover parts of the original tank are stored inside what we can see.
Along with the nation’s recreational movement was the growth of the conservation movement that began in the late 1880s. This movement was in response to the depletion of America’s forests through poor logging practices, erosion, urban and industrial development, and fire. Rangers were hired to watch over lands and look out for fires. We came across the history of such a ranger when we were at Big Bend National Park.
On the highest point in the area, this water tower doubled as a fire-fighting tower for years. The CCC had cut down trees in the wilderness around the park to create land for the park and build the buildings. The cupola at the top was a great place for rangers to check the surrounding countryside for fires.
a ranger using an Osborne Fire Finder
Rangers looking out for fires had their own small room for sleeping half way up the tower.
Many of the these furnishings are original, including the bed, table, and a shelf. A reproduction wooden fire tool box holds original fire-fighting equipment from the era.
inside the cupola
This Osborne Fire Fighter sighting device was used to plot the location of smoke so crews could be sent to the exact place of the forest fires.
Remember how we said that CCC had cut down the area’s trees to clear land for the park and have lumber for building? Well, here’s what the area looks like almost 100 years later. Amazing.
views from the cupola
Our RV is in the distance.
And here’s our view of the tower from our campsite.
view of the water tank as we walked down the stairs
You’ve probably wondered how the CCC got water up the hill to the tower. Well, Andre (park manager) told us a little about it and then pointed out a trail back to our campsite that had information and a bit of history on this topic.
This display describes the spring and pump houses for Camp Liberty.
Like the tower, these buildings were constructed of white clapboard with gabled roofs and stone foundations. The natural spring water was collected and stored in a cistern (in the spring house) and then pumped uphill using the pump house to the water tower.
The spring house’s cistern was 12.6 feet long x 78 feet wide x 5.4 feet deep. The spring produces water at roughly 4 gallons/minute and feeds Lake Liberty.
The spring is an artesian spring of groundwater seeping out at the surface when atmospheric pressure is less than the ground pressure of the rock or soil. (That’s for you scientific people.)
The trail we’re on is one that the CCC men built. So appreciate all that they did for us.
pictures of constructing Lake Liberty and trenching for pipes
The spring house is downhill from the trail
Groundwater is seeping to the surface by the spring house.
The pump house is uphill from the trail. Originally it used an electrical pump to move water to the tower.
a closeup of the seal on the pump house
Liberty Hall
Between the state park and the town is Liberty Hall, the home of A. H. Stevens who we’ve told you about. Since the CCC helped restore this home, we’re including our own walking tour of the grounds. Before Covid-19 the house and outbuildings were open for guided tours on the weekends, but for now we got a brochure for background information (and info we found online).
what a lovely home
In 1990, Liberty Hall underwent a 3rd restoration, along with the dance hall (not sure were that was) and other structures. It then was put on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995 to preserve the historic CCC and WPA structures, as well as A.H. Stephens’ home.
This display gave us some information history on what we’re seeing.
Alexander Stephens lived here from 1843 until he died in 1883. A bachelor, he was known for his southern hospitality, always filling his home with family and friends.
Stephens completely rebuilt the residence in 1875, dubbing it “a modest mansion.” It remains much as it was during his life and has many of his original furnishings. Like many wealthy homes of the time, it was built following the 18th century English Georgian architecture: 4 rooms up and down often divided by a central hall. The home has 4 bedrooms upstairs and a men’s parlor, a ladies’ parlor, dining room, and Stephens’ bedroom on the main floor.
kitchen and men’s parlor
library and Stephens’ bedroom
While Stevens was an educated man and a lover of liberty, he did own 31 enslaved persons who worked on his nearby farm and provided domestic labor.
Most of the domestic work was done by Harry and Eliza who had both been born into slavery. Harry had been purchased from a nearby plantation so he could marry Eliza and have 5 children with her. The parents, along with their children, stayed on the property as paid servants after emancipation. They continued living here after Stephens’ death, with Eliza living until 1917. Liberty Hall’s enduring legacy is as much theirs as it is Alexander Stephens’.
Harry and Eliza are buried across the street on the other side of Crawfordville Baptist Church.
After Stephens’ death, the house was purchased in 1885 by the Stephens Monumental Association. In 1932, the association deeded 12 acres and Liberty Hall to the state and a museum was built (to the left of the house). Additional property was purchased to bring the total to over 200 aces to create the park where we’re staying.
This side view shows the library wing at the back of the house.
This side view of the house has a better view of Stephens’ library wing that was connected to the house with a covered breezeway.
hallway inside the house (taken through a window)
The house was lighted by gas lights fed from a Springfield Gas Machine stored in one of the nearby outbuildings. Liberty Hall was one of the first homes in Georgia to have gas lighting throughout the home. The gas for the lighting was stored in a well, and a counterweight was lowered to force the fumes into the house’s lighting fixtures.
On the right is Dora’s house (the eldest daughter of Harry and Eliza), the middle building is the cookhouse, and at the left is a covered well house
Dora’s 2-room house was for the eldest daughter of the Harry and Eliza.
sitting room on the left and a kitchen on the right
The cook/wash house served as the cook house prior to the cast iron stove that’s now in the kitchen. It also served as a laundry room for the home, and remnant of the clothes line posts are next to it.
The well house had a 40-foot well thatwas the main source of water for the property.
This view of the back of the house shows a side kitchen wing; a door to the house is on the other side of the covered breezeway.
Harry and Eliza’s home. They were the heart and soul of Liberty Hall according to our brochure. In this 2-room home they raised 5 children. Later they owned a 2-story home that sat on the land where the museum is today.
their bedroom
I always wonder what the relationship was between Stevens and those who lived on his farm. According to www.exploresouthernhistory.com, “When the war ended, the frail Stephens was imprisoned at Fort Warren in Boston Harbor for five months. He returned home to find the farm operating well. None of the former slaves had left, even after being informed of their liberation from slavery.” When this couple’s descendants returned to visit Liberty Hall, “among their number could be found educators, doctors and professionals from a variety of fields.” An impressive family.
This large area was the site of the garden that supported all who lived here.
This graveyard was for a servants’ family at the back corner of the garden area. The parents died in 1859.
Such wonderful work done by the CCC and others to provide us with this look at life in the South in the last half of the 1800s at Liberty Hall.
Ever wonder what came before the Depression to create all its problems and what came after this time? In the next post I’ll summarize what I’ve learned and think happened.
