Unexpected Treasure- Lake Greenwood State Park

I was less than enthusiastic about our visit to Lake Greenwood State Park.

"I guess maybe we could do it as a picnic," I told my husband.  I had pored over maps of the parks and roads in hopes of finding a way to combine Lake Greenwood with another park.  There wasn't a good way.  We had already visited Dreher Island and Chester and that left Lake Greenwood all by itself on the map.

I sighed.  Lake Greenwood was more of a recreational area - a place to enjoy the day on your boat.  That is wonderful but we don't have a boat.  The day itself did not soothe me.  It was uncharacteristically cool for April and was very windy too.  To be honest, I wasn't even sure we could pull off a picnic.

About an hour past our church and in the opposite direction of all I knew lay Lake Greenwood unapologetically unassuming.  We scouted around for a picnic table and found one near the bathhouse and the playground.  We got the kids together and trekked to the lakeside spot and tried to enjoy ourselves as we were being battered by the wind.  We chased cups and napkins and children.  The kids complained about the significant chill that pervaded our picnic area.  Ben began to pick up on my discontent.  He was less than understanding about the delay of his food as we fought the wind while trying to prepare his sandwich.  Ben began to exhibit aggressive behavior.  He was frustrated and wondered if biting and scratching would help to improve his situation.  It didn't.  My eyes began to well up and I looked over to Anchor.  His look agreed with mine.  We put everything, including the children, back into the van as we declared,  "Car Picnic!" We did make sure to proudly display our park passport in our front window and took pictures  We were trying our best to salvage the experience as we munched sandwiches in the Kia.

We finished our repast and now needed to get the Lake Greenwood stamp.  We scoured the shore for kiosks.  No luck.  My frustration level continued to build.  We decided to go find the ranger station.  We drove over to the unassuming building with the flag in front and a small garden beside it.  We parked, entered the office and then.....

I SAW IT....cue angel songs....

I am a nerd- self professed.  I have a bachelor's and a master's degree in history.  The South Carolina parks are about place, story and people.  Of those, the stories (which are about the people and the place) interest me the most.  We opened the front door of the ranger station and had now entered one of the most amazing stories that the park service has to offer.

Before us lay a museum dedicated to the Civilian Conservation Corps.

In true showman style, the exhibit opened humbly without a hint of the greatness it had in store.  We ducked behind an unassuming partition into a darkened cubicle where a screen displayed newsreel that set up the crisis of the Great Depression and the hope FDR brought with the CCC.

On then through the exhibit, my family was hurled through time as we sat by the ancient radio which looked new in a meager but clean kitchen circa the 1930s and listened to FDR's Fireside Chat.  We walked on past and saw more newsreel depicting the young men proudly serving their nation as servants of the CCC.  South Carolina camps were showcased, particularly those that have now become South Carolina State Parks.   Among those featured were Myrtle Beach, Edisto and Poinsett.

All of this was just to set the stage.  The exhibit emptied into a makeshift classroom as the Corps sought to educate its conscripts on the value of soil conservation and the environmentally sound and conscientious methods of building.  Stools were set with mighty volumes detailing parkitecture which was at the time a new practice of using ready natural resources to build park structures.  This parkitecture with its signature wood and stonework mark every South Carolina CCC acquired park.

We were ushered through the elements of environment, culture, and conservation all featuring the South Carolina State Parks we had yet to meet:  Lee, Poinsett, Aiken and Barnwell.  We were shown the forest green uniform and the hard heavy tools of the tree army.  We were then introduced to the veterans of the CCC via interviews and newsreel.  I watched my little ones listening to the now elderly men recounting their glory days in the park army.  My children are young and did not pick up on everything but they did note the pride that shone in the eyes of the aged men.  These men knew that even as their hair was thinning and their feet were slowing that they had made a real difference.  The men of the Civilian Conservation Corps had given valuable service to their country.  More interview stations beckoned and more artifacts drew us on.  We learned of pranks pulled (the boys put mattresses up on the rafters of their cabins), fun had (baseball games), girls met (at community dances) and lives bettered as $20 from every CCC check of the $25 per month (yes, month) went back home to help hold property and family together as the Depression ravaged on.

I exited the exhibit marveling that such a place existed and that it was hiding here at Lake Greenwood.  Yes, Lake Greenwood was a CCC camp but there were so many others.  The exhibit itself barely mentioned Lake Greenwood.  I further marveled that there had been no signage of the exhibit that had all the character and quality of a large museum.

I could not fathom why this exhibit was at Lake Greenwood.

Months later I learned the secret of Lake Greenwood.  It was so important that I again made the pilgrimage to Lake Greenwood to pay tribute to the place that was the most fitting setting for the memories to be kept.

As you drive into Lake Greenwood State Park, the road is flanked by tremendous pines that reach heavenward.  They shed their needles to provide a cradle to the most appropriate memorial of the Civilian Conservation Corps.  The spirits and ghosts of the CCC are active here in this pine forest where the men of this camp last left their work.  Great stones litter the ground in the forest just off the side of the road into the park.  They were left there at the end of the day on December 6, 1942.  The men had toiled all day.  They had chiseled, moved and crafted the beginnings of a wall to greet guests to the park and make a final mark as to their work here at Lake Greenwood.  December 7, 1942 brought news of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor.  The men of Lake Greenwood Civilian Conservation Corps ran toward the defense of their country abandoning these mighty stones to lie as a testament to what the CCC had been and what it had achieved.

Many credit FDR and his administration with ushering America out of the Great Depression.  I think he knew that it was these men and their families that took the heavy load and fashioned something great out of the boulders that were weighing our country down.  The men of the CCC came together with sweat and labored for America's resurgence and then her defense.  The CCC, supported by their communities and their families, left the living monuments that are now some of the finest state parks in the country.  What a precious gift to all that America is.  They preserved the essential elements of America by creating places where citizens and wildlife could come together in beauty, respect and admiration.  The work of the Civilian Conservation Corps is a testament to the best piece of who we are as a country.

The stones which lay at Lake Greenwood State Park, the memories and stories shared inside her structure...these are fitting tribute.  This is the fitting place.