The Rhode Island Civilian Conservation Corps Camps

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) began on March 31, 1933 under President Roosevelt’s “New Deal” to relieve the poverty and unemployment of the Depression. CCC camps were set up in a few Rhode Island towns, state parks, & forests.

Workers built trails, roads, campsites, & dams, stocked fish, built & maintained fire tower observer’s cabins & telephone lines, fought fires, & planted millions of trees. The CCC disbanded in 1942 due to the need for men in WW II.

With over 13 million unemployed during the Great Depression, the country’s new president in 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt, as one of his programs to get people back to work, established the Civilian Conservation Corps.

The CCC, as it became known for short, grew into one of FDR’s most successful and popular programs. Underfed young men throughout the country enlisted in the CCC and were bused to camps in national and state forests, where they were employed making the forests accessible to visitors. In Rhode Island, seven camps were established, from Primrose/Woonsocket to the north, Escoheag/Beach Pond to the west, and Burlingame/Westerly to the south.

Rhode Islanders should be grateful that Martin Podskoch, one of the nation’s authorities on the CCC, has turned his talents to Rhode Island.

In this remarkable and authoritative book, Podskoch rediscovers the wonderful stories of CCC efforts undertaken by Rhode Islanders and fills the book’s pages with photographs that bring the period back to life. Some of the sites can be visited today.

This book is a real treat for readers to enjoy.