George Washington & Jefferson National Forests
|
Last updated on September 13, 2024
|
|
Directions from Liberty Furnace to site 21:
|
Photos by David Verde of DV Entertainment.
|
In 1933, a Civilian Conservation Corps was established on the West Virginia-Virginia state line in the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest that would be named Camp Edinburg. This camp was implemented as part of the 1933 New Deal program to relieve young men of unemployment and stimulate the national economy during the Great Depression with employment, trading, and housing. The camp started out with only white employees; then, in 1934, it was categorized as “colored” and renamed Wolfs Gap. In 1936, one hundred and fifty-one black enrollees from Virginia and Washington, DC, occupied the camp. The work by those at Wolf Gap included the conservation of historical sites, forest protection, road construction, laying of telephone lines and road beds, and improvements of streams and state and federal parks in the Shenandoah Valley. The presence of African Americans in the area was met with racial tension by local white residents. Some were transported south to Harrisonburg, which had a larger black population, so they commuted to work at Wolf Gap. As one of 140 African American camps, Wolf Gap hosted more than 200,000 enrollees and 30,000 African American World War l veterans from 1933 to 1942. After closing in 1937, most of the camp's infrastructure was given to the US Army. Today, the land is called Wolf Gap Recreation Area and is used as a camping ground.
