Tuesday, December 1, 2009

CCC Cabins

Holmes County State Park in Mississippi is just one of the many sites where the Civilian Conservation Corps built recreational cabins. I've vacationed in this park 4 or 5 times, and although newer cabins have been constructed around the corner, I always opt for staying in the CCC cabins.

As in all the CCC work of the 1930's, hand crafting is the norm creating a wonderfully rustic feel. In addition to providing jobs for the unemployed, the Civilian Conservation Corps focused on teaching construction skills. "Craft" - as a legacy of the apprenticeship way of learning - was celebrated, respected and nourished was a way of building. Combine this ethic with a lack of power tools and the result is wonderfully hand-crafted collection of structures with the feel of rustic charm seldom seen in contemporary building.























Thus, each constructed element a particular CCC site is unique, creating a variety of interesting "one of a kind" buildings even when floor plans are similar. And, every CCC site, by virtue of hand-crafting, has its own unique identity. What a wonderful way to celebrate the human spirit!

2 comments:

ashok said...

excellent,informative blog it gives expression to feelings,culture,history of U.S.-AMERICAN .

as indian



http://ashok-discoverindia.blogspot.com/

ashok

Michael said...

Wonderful series you're running here and the photos are terrific. Bless you for shining a light on the CCC and its very significant contributions to the forests, farms and fields we enjoy today. The boys of the CCC are disappearing rapidly and soon there will be none left to tell of the work, but folks like you will help make sure the legacy lives on, I'm sure.