Muscle Shoals in Colbert County, Alabama — The American South (East South Central)
Civilian Conservation Corps Park
Photographed by Deborah Spencer, July 26, 2025
1. Civilian Conservation Corps Park Marker
Inscription.
Civilian Conservation Corps Park. . The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was created as a public work relief program during the Great Depression as part of Roosevelt's New Deal. Congress passed legislation to create the agency in March 1933, and by the time the CCC dissolved in 1942, it had provided jobs for more than 2.5 million men. The CCC consisted of young, unemployed men between the ages of 18 and 25. The CCC's primary focus on natural resource conservation programs was an ideal fit with TVA, also created under Roosevelt's New Deal. The Tennessee River Valley struggled with issues of constant flooding and erosion. The depletion of natural resources was an area where significant preservation progress could be sustained., In the early 1930s the CCC constructed TVA Camp Number 13 on the TVA reservation at Muscle Shoals. The camps consisted of military-style bunkhouses constructed in a square around a common area. Besides barracks for sleeping there were shower and toilet facilities, a mess hall, a tool shed and a headquarters building., The Muscle Shoals reservation was planned as a sustainable and blended-use property. (Blended use means a property can be used for more than one purpose: recreation, industrial, commercial, preservation, public use, etc.) Housing was constructed for the TVA and CCC workers on site, but the National Park Service, which ran one of the divisions of the CCC working here, wanted to be sure that the people of the communities around the reservation could enjoy the resources available here, too. So the CCC constructed a meeting hall (sometimes called the museum or the library), a pavilion, an overlook, walking trails, and infrastructure such as drainage improvements and bridges on the south bluff of the Tennessee River, for public use., Some of the park elements constructed by the CCC remain, including the overlook, the pavilion, erosion controls and some of the trails and other landscape improvements. The "museum, which was used as a community center for dances, meetings and social functions, was constructed in 1935 and torn down sometime after 1957.
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was created as a public
work relief program during the Great Depression as part of Roosevelt's
New Deal. Congress passed legislation to create the agency in
March 1933, and by the time the CCC dissolved in 1942, it had
provided jobs for more than 2.5 million men. The CCC consisted of
young, unemployed men between the ages of 18 and 25. The CCC's
primary focus on natural resource conservation programs was an ideal
fit with TVA, also created under Roosevelt's New Deal. The Tennessee
River Valley struggled with issues of constant flooding and erosion.
The depletion of natural resources was an area where significant
preservation progress could be sustained.
In the early 1930s the CCC constructed TVA Camp Number 13
on the TVA reservation at Muscle Shoals. The camps consisted of
military-style bunkhouses constructed in a square around a common
area. Besides barracks for sleeping there were shower and toilet
facilities, a mess hall, a tool shed and a headquarters building.
The Muscle Shoals reservation was planned as a sustainable and
blended-use property. (Blended use means a property can be used
for more than one purpose: recreation, industrial, commercial,
preservation, public use, etc.) Housing was constructed for the TVA
and CCC workers on site, but the National Park
Click or scan to see this page online
Service, which ran
one of the divisions of the CCC working here, wanted to be sure that
the people of the communities around the reservation could enjoy the
resources available here, too. So the CCC constructed a meeting hall
(sometimes called the museum or the library), a pavilion, an overlook,
walking trails, and infrastructure such as drainage improvements and
bridges on the south bluff of the Tennessee River, for public use.
Some of the park elements constructed by the CCC remain, including
the overlook, the pavilion, erosion controls and some of the trails and
other landscape improvements. The "museum, which was used as
a community center for dances, meetings and social functions, was
constructed in 1935 and torn down sometime after 1957.
Location. 34° 47.011′ N, 87° 39.326′ W. Marker is in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, in Colbert County. It is on CCC Camp Road north of Reservation Rd, on the right when traveling west. At parking lot at the end of CCC Camp Road where the trail leads off to the CCC Pavilion. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 362 CCC Camp Rd, Sheffield AL 35660, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in North Alabama and in the Shoals. It is also in the American South, specifically in the Deep South, in Appalachia, and specifically in Southern Appalachia. Globally, it is in North America, a Gulf of Mexico state, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture, one of the Confederate States of America, and the Antebellum South.
Another marker is no longer nearby. Prehistoric Mound (was approx. one mile away but has been replaced with another marker now near it).
Credits. This page was last revised on July 31, 2025. It was originally submitted on July 29, 2025, by Deborah Spencer of Huntsville, Alabama. This page has been viewed 126 times since then and 38 times this year. Photo1. submitted on July 29, 2025, by Deborah Spencer of Huntsville, Alabama. • James Hulse was the editor who published this page.
