Camp Roosevelt Picnic Shelter - George Washington National Forest VA
N 38° 43.782 W 078° 31.043
17S E 715804 N 4289707
Alumni of the first CCC camp in the United States built a picnic shelter at the site of their old camp.
Waymark Code: WMBXWY
Location: Virginia, United States
Date Posted: 07/02/2011
Views: 4
Camp Roosevelt, NF-1 was the first CCC camp established in the United States. It was located in the George Washington National Forest in Virginia. Camp Roosevelt began operations in April 1933 and was shut down and abandoned in June 1942.
The camp was reopened in 1966 and dedicated as the Camp Roosevelt Recreation Area with campsites and picnic areas added among the ruins of the old CCC camp buildings. Moon Mullins, a recruit who joined Camp Roosevelt in 1934, initiated the efforts to open the camp again.
Moon and James Wilkins, a Forest Service employee who was superintendent of Camp Roosevelt from 1935 to 1940, organized the first CCC reunions beginning in 1977 at the old Camp NF-1.
In 1986, former members of the first CCC camp built a picnic shelter near the location of the old mess hall and kitchen. A sign on the front of the open shelter reads:
ERECTED
IN 1986
BY FORMER
CCC MEMBERS
OF CAMP
ROOSEVELT
A sign on the back reads:
LUMBER SAWN
BY C. MUNSON
IN HONOR OF
LEO DONOVAN
CAPT US ARMY
1ST CAMP CO
Camp Roosevelt opened under the command of Captain Leo Donovan of the infantry reserve.¹
¹ The Forest Service and The Civilian Conservation Corps: 1933-42 (Chapter 13)
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