First CCC Enrollees Arrive at Ft. Devens
On this day in 1933, the first enrollees of the Massachusetts Civilian Conservation Corps arrived at Fort Devens in Ayer. They were soldiers in a peacetime army that, in the words of the men who served in it, "brought together two wasted resources, the young men and the land, in an effort to save both." The effort was a huge success, and the CCC was one of the most popular programs of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. Over a period of nine years, nearly 100,000 Massachusetts men lived and worked in CCC camps spread across the state. The roads and trails, bridges and overlooks, picnic shelters and log cabins they built in the state's parks are the Triple C's living legacy in Massachusetts.
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