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| Garner State Park, Texas |
Here's the rest of the stories... at Sepia Saturday. A lot of mainly interesting pictures and post cards, and such interesting people all over the world. I'm so honored to join them, most weeks. This week we look at combination photos on one page.
A collection from my father's album (George,) which I never saw while he was alive. The keeper of all secrets in my family (estranged sister) gave the family albums to my son, who let me copy from them. Chauncey in the lower right photo was my father, George's brother. Yes, he's holding a gun, and perhaps this was a hunting outing, or just shooting at targets, both popular sports in Texas.
Here's a single shot of the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) Camp at Garner State Park.
And here's my father lying along a limb of a tree. It's a bit strange but shows he was once a tree climber. I think my mom may have also been part of the group in the park, since my parents were married about a year before this date.
Wikipedia provides this info:
The land for Garner State Park was acquired in 1934 through 1936. In
1934, the Texas State Parks Board approved the location for a future
state park, and the Texas Legislature provided funding for state parks. The Civilian Conservation Corps made the park’s original improvements, which included a large pavilion
and a concessions building. The property was conveyed to the State
Parks Board in 1936, and it opened as Garner State Park in 1941. The
park was named for John Nance Garner, former Vice-President of the United States
There's even a site with a song (no kidding, audio!) about what's happening now at Garner State Park
HERE.
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| Current view of Frio River in Garner State Park |
The current view looks perhaps like the photo in my dad's album on the top right.
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| View of Garner CCC camp in Google Images files - very like the one of my dad's. |
Life in the great depression - for which the CCC was offered as partial relief.
Campground these days, with limbs in trees like the one my dad lay upon perhaps.
One of the cabins built by the CCC in Garner State Park
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| More recent view of a cabin in Garner |
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| Pavilion built by CCC where weekly dances are held Sat evenings now |
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| Perhaps these are descendents of the deer my dad's family were hunting (and missed) |
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| Yes the CCC men were trained as life guards for the safety of the swimmers. |
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| Company 879 also had time for playing a bit of baseball. |
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The CCC is noted for many buildings that still are in use, for roads, for parks, dams, and various construction projects. These were men who earned a bit to send home to help their families, while creating lasting structures.
As soon as I saw that photo of the car and trailer parked by the side of the road, I immediately thought of John Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath" - such a dramatic shot. Thanks for sharing these old photos from your father's album.
ReplyDeleteGlad to see the newer cabins are built in the trees. The others, out in the hot sun, couldn't have been that comfortable. Then again, they were a shelter plain & simple! Great picture of your father laying on that branch in the tree!
ReplyDeleteI have come across the CCC before in Sepia Saturday blogs. I suppose it coincided with the time that amateur photography became a viable hobby for ordinary people and it was also an important adventure in people's lives.
ReplyDeleteThe CCC camp looks like a bunch of Monopoly houses.
ReplyDeleteAnd your father in that tree -- great balance!
Nothing -- nothing!-- can top that shot of your father lying on the tree limb! What a treasure!
ReplyDeleteThose CCC barracks were certainly not built for comfort, and I'm sure that's why the workers were outside as often as they could be. I imagine someone had used that field for raising crops before the engineers threw up the barracks. Fortunately (my opinion) they don't survive still, but the cabins do.
ReplyDeleteThe small houses were better than what they found if they were picking crops.
ReplyDeleteI would have fallen right off of that limb your father is lounging on.
Your father's pose is very cool, as is the cute little babe next to the heap of stuff! Great post, thanks.
ReplyDeleteYour father's position the tree doesn't look very safe, but it does make an interesting picture.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Postcardy. Love the photo of your dad relaxing in the tree.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't mind staying in a cabin like that. It looks like a Wendy House doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteMy uncle served in the CCC. I don't think many people appreciate how important it was in our nation's recovery effort during the Great Depression. And of course much of our Blue Ridge Parkway and National State parkland was built by thousands of men like your dad.
ReplyDeleteMaybe my post has a misleading connection. My parents and uncle were visitors to Garner State Park, before it officially opened, but as far as I know they were just taking pictures of the camp. I have never heard that any of them were in the CCC. It's possible of course. The other pics were from the internet, which I forgot to say.
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