Florida's Civilian Conservation Corps Museum at Highlands Hammock State Park

What is the Civilian Conservation Corps?  The CCC was one of the "Alphabet Agencies" instituted by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Administration to employ thousands of unemployed young men across the United States during the Great Depression.  Created on April 10, 1933, this massive employment program got young urban men "off street corners" and reduced rural unemployment.

What did the Civilian Conservation Camps do?  During the nine years the CCC operated, three million men learned vocational skills as they worked on erosion control, fire prevention, land reclamation, built state campgrounds across 48 states and planted millions of trees.

Where were Civilian Conservation Projects done?  CCC Camps and projects were active in each of the fifty states,  Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

What were the Corpsmen paid?  $30.00 per month with the requirement that $25.00 per month be sent home to assist their families.

Florida's Civilian Conservation

Corps Museum is housed in

Sebring's CCC building.

There were 22 CCC Camps
in Florida with 4,400
CCC Workers.






Each camp housed about 200 men who were assigned to projects.  Vermont was the exemption with 5,300 men assigned to four camps in the Winooski River Valley.

President Roosevelt reported

to the public regularly in

his "Fireside Chats."

African American and Native American Corpsmen lived in segregated camps as they worked on assigned projects.

The tools used by Corpsmen
were simple.

Often they worked in
remote areas without
access to electricity.

For young men from the city,

the CCC was eye opening.

They worked very hard.

Farm boys were more familiar with the type of work done by the Corps.  And, they worked very hard.

A model of the Mess Hall built
by the CCC at O'Leno Forestry 
Training Camp.

 All large CCC buildings were built using the post and beam method.

Corpsmen lived in dormitories.

Evenings were a time 

relaxation.

Reading, card playing, chess, checkers, dancing, plays, singalongs etc. filled the evenings.

Young men are competitive

& sports helped burn off

excess energy while

providing entertainment

for the group.

What were the results of the Civilian Conservation Corps?  Three million young men were gainfully employed, 800 state parks were built across the country, three billion trees were planted.  CCC Camps contributed to their local economies.  Residents welcomed the workers and their spending in the community.  Locals benefited from improvements done by the Corps.  For over eighty years the public has enjoyed the parks and learned about nature and conservation.