In this Book
- The Civilian Conservation Corps and the Construction of the Virginia Kendall Reserve, 1933-1939
- Book
- 2012
- Published by: The Kent State University Press
This book tells the story of the CCC’s construction of the Virginia Kendall Reserve, which today is part of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, in Northeast Ohio. Four hundred and thirty acres of farmland came under the control of the Akron Metropolitan Park District and its director-secretary, Harold Wagner, who immediately applied to the federal government to establish a CCC camp there with the aim of creating a natural recreation landscape open to the public.
Author Kenneth Bindas and seven of his students from Kent State University drew upon a wide variety of government documents, oral histories, and other primary sources to place the construction of the Reserve within the larger context of modernism and the emerging 1930s movements whose goals were to protect and open up natural areas. As a case study, the construction of the Virginia Kendall Reserve provides an example of the design, manipulation, and construction used to create so many Civilian Conservation Corps environments.
The book is filled with historic photographs showing the process of construction, and contemporary photos by Marina Vladova visually detail the lush nature that families, hikers, runners, bikers, and naturalists enjoy today.
Table of Contents
- 2. Work Builds Better Men
- pp. 35-62
- 3. Creating Nature
- pp. 63-80
- 4. Leisure Is Learning
- pp. 81-100
- Conclusion: Walking Today
- pp. 101-117