High Bridge Company 1268 / Civilian Conservation Corps
Voorhees State Park
[Main Marker]:
On October 31, 1933, CCC Company 1268, S.P.-5, arrived at High Bridge, N.J., four years after former Governor Foster M. Voorhees donated his 325 acre farm, known as Hills Acres, to the State of New Jersey to become a park. Called Voorhees State Park, CCC enrollees developed, under the watchful eye of Alan Blackburn (Project Superintendent), and James Ashey (Park Superintendent), two separate parcels of land called Hoppock Grove and Hills Acres, as well as Hacklebarney State Park in Long Valley. Enrollees engaged in erosion control, roadside clearing and reforestation. Thjey constructed park roads, trails, bridges, shelters, picnic tables and water fountains.
High Bridge Company 1268 closed its doors on June 30, 1941 after nearly eight years of faithful service to the community.
[Supplemental Marker]:
"I propose to create a Civilian Conservation Corps to be used in simple work ... more important, however, than material gain will be the moral and spiritual value of such work."
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
March 9, 1933
Civilian Conservation Corps
Beginning in late 1929 the Great Depression struck the economy of the United States. To assist in stimulating the economy, Franklin D. Roosevelt, once elected as president, established a national job training program for American youth. The CCC became the largest peacetime mobilization in American history. CCC enrollees had to be unmarried, male citizens aged 17 to 24 years. Enlistment was for six months with the possibilty of serving up to two years. Enrollees were paid 30 dollars a month. CCC recruits were allowed to keep five dollars; the remainder was sent to the enrollees' families.
Marker is on Voorhees Park Main Road, on the right when traveling west.
Courtesy hmdb.org
