PENFIELD – The DuBois Area Historical Society will hold its 10th annual spring walk May 13 at 10 a.m. at Parker Dam State Park. The walk is free and open to all.
Those planning to attend should meet at the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Museum at 10 a.m. Carey Huber, environmental education specialist for Parker Dam State Park, will lead the walk on the Civilian Conservation Corps Trail.
This trail is a walk down memory lane to the days of the CCC. This was the road used daily for travel between the residential CCC camp (now the Organized Group Tenting Area) and the work site at the dam.
Now the road serves as a trail, making its way through pleasant pine plantations, traversing from Tyler Road to a point on Mud Run Road.
The CCC Museum at Parker Dam is named in honor of the late Lou and Helen Adams, long-time Penfield residents and organizers of CCC reunions and events. Lou was a member of the CCC. He later served as an officer for the DuBois Area Historical Society.
The Civilian Conservation Corps was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families as part of the New Deal. Originally for young men ages 18–25 years, it was eventually expanded to young men ages 17–28 years.
The CCC was a major part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal that provided unskilled manual labor jobs related to the conservation and development of natural resources in rural lands owned by federal, state and local governments including Parker Dam.
During the time of the CCC, enrollees planted nearly 3 billion trees to help reforest America, constructed trails, lodges and related facilities in more than 800 parks nationwide and upgraded most state parks, updated forest firefighting methods and built a network of service buildings and public roadways in remote areas.
Those attending the society’s walk may also be interested in a bird watching program planned for later in the afternoon by the Clearfield County Area Agency on Aging.
The program is open to anyone 50 years and older and is limited to 20 people. This is a two-day event, with the second day to be scheduled in June. For information, contact apollock@ccaaa.net.