Connecticut Civilian Conservation Corps Museum is open again

Jul. 28—STAFFORD SPRINGS — After being closed last year, the Connecticut Civilian Conservation Corps Museum is officially open again for the season.

The museum is open from Memorial Day to Columbus Day weekends on Sundays from noon to 3 p.m. It is located at 166 Chestnut Hill Road in Stafford Springs. Admission is free and free parking is available on- site.

The museum has artifacts, photographs, displays and information from the 21 Civilian Conservation Corps camps in Connecticut and other Northeast states.

The Civilian Conservation Corps began on March 31, 1933 under President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal program to relieve the poverty and unemployment caused by the Great Depression.

The United States Army supervised the Civilian Conservation Corps camps, which had approximately 200 men each. Camps were held in each of the country's 48 states as well as the United States territories of Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands.

In 1933, 13 camps were established in Connecticut towns' state parks and forests. This included Squantz Pond State Park in New Fairfield, Meshomasic State Forest in Cobalt and Paugnut State Forest in Torrington.

Later on in the Great Depression, eight more camps were added including the American Legion State Forest in Barkhamsted and Shenipsit State Forest in Stafford Springs.

Men between the ages of 18 and 25 enrolled in each camp for six months. To enroll at the camp, the men had to be single, unemployed and not attending school. Each of them worked a 40- hour workweek and were paid $30 per month.

The United States Government sent $ 25 a month home to the men's families, while the remaining $ 5 went to the men.

"The boys got good food, uniforms, shelter and medical care," said Martin Podskoch, volunteer coordinator for the museum. " At first they lived in tents; later they lived in wooden buildings."

The men built trails, roads,

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