Catoctin Mountain Park Historic Resource Study

Wartime Road Construction

By the eve of World War II, Catoctin Project Superintendent Mike Williams long had been eager to improve the roads around the park. A gritty, dirt road, that suffered frequent wash-outs, greeted visitors, most of whom entered the park along the Thurmont-Foxville Road. But concerns over precisely who--the state or the federal government--would pave the road delayed plans. Likewise, officials worried about the impact of road improvements on Hunting Creek, "the most famous trout stream in Maryland." Some talked of rerouting the road through Deerfield. [51] Again these concerns delayed construction plans.

The advent of the war both delayed then ultimately spurred road improvements. Initially, with the military take-over of the park, other, more critical, construction projects took precedent over road construction. The WPA, upon which the park had depended for labor since its founding, announced that as of 1943 it could no longer supply assistance to federal agencies. [52]

But the national emergency and Catoctin's increasingly important role in the war effort also generated momentum for road construction. With the president frequently visiting, the OSS training at Greentop, and the Marines and other branches of the services utilizing other facilities, good roads were a necessity.

Williams used the national emergency to press the state's road commission to improve the Thurmont-Foxville state road. Anticipating a bright post-war future for Thurmont, town businessmen lobbied actively for road construction. Governor Herbert O'Connor promised that the Thurmont-Foxville road would be first on the list for post-war improvement. [53] Cooperation between state and federal authorities allowed construction on a stretch of highway connecting Thurmont to Foxville to begin even earlier than planned in the spring of 1944 (see Appendix 25). [54] While the road was built, the tensions between state and federal officials over the construction foreshadowed post-war tensions over the fate of the park, itself.

The War Reshapes the Region

Not only did the Catoctin RDA contribute to the war effort, but the local community also gave generously. Area residents formed a "minute man unit" that practiced drills, wore uniforms, and trained 94 "spotters" to watch the skies over the mountains for enemy aircraft. [55] Numerous local residents served overseas. Hooker Lewis' grandson Donald Lewis, making use of talents he developed as an avid hunter in the Catoctin mountain, served as a sharp-shooter guard to General Dwight D. Eisenhower. [56] Staff Sergeant Kieffer Lewis from Thurmont was among the soldiers to tour Buchenwald prison camp. Nineteen local residents gave their lives in the war. [57] Nor was service in the war was limited to males. Catoctin-area native Mary C. Willhide served in the army nurse's corps in France. [58]

At home, a severe shortage of farm labor posed a grave challenge to the farmers of the Catoctin area. In an effort to help, the government developed programs that provided tractors at low cost. Professor T.B. Symons of the Maryland Agricultural Extension Service arranged for teenagers to help with some of the labor. With the cooperation of military authorities, he also developed a program of using German Prisoners of War in the region. Since Germans had founded the area in the eighteenth century, it seemed somehow fitting that German POWs return to the region. Symons recommended Catoctin RDA for a possible prison camp from where prisoners could be dispatched to work on local farms. [59] Concerns about security and the fact that Catoctin's camps all were occupied forced Symons to establish the Frederick County POW camp at a branch of Fort Meade located west of Frederick. [60] These POWs labored on farms throughout Frederick and Washington counties. And some of the prisoners developed lasting relationships with area farm families. [61]

The Fate of the Park

The federal government built the Catoctin RDA with the expressed intention of eventually returning the park to the state of Maryland. In the initial planning stages, in fact, the federal government had pressured Maryland for assurances that once turned over the land properly would be administered as a state park. And Maryland did give such assurances. [62]

With the establishment of the Shangri-La presidential retreat, however, future plans for Catoctin changed. In the summer of 1942, President Roosevelt signed legislation turning over to the states, under certain considerations" the Recreational Demonstration Areas created during the New Deal period. But he explicitly forbade the Interior Department from transferring Catoctin because, he explained, the park "would undoubtedly be traversed by any expansion by the Skyline Drive." [63] More than likely, the "Skyline Drive" justification was a front, and the real issue was the White House's desire to protect the new presidential retreat. In early 1943, the NPS announced that all RDAs would be transferred to their respective states, with the exception of Catoctin and six other sites to be "further studied to determined whether or not they are qualified for permanent inclusion in the Federal park system." [64]

On August 28, 1943, Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes reported to Roosevelt on his study of the remaining RDAs. While Catoctin, Ickes explained, would not be part of the Blue Ridge Parkway extension, there existed compelling reasons to add the site to the National Capital Park System. "This extra-ordinarily fine property," explained the secretary, "reached by a short drive from the District of Columbia through charming country side, will always find its greatest usefulness in primarily in serving the needs of the people of the District even though the enjoyment of it will be shared by the people of Baltimore, Frederick, and other cites." [65]

But many Marylanders, especially hunters, felt otherwise. When word got out of the intentions of the federal government, the League of Maryland Sportsmen unanimously adopted a stinging resolution complaining that "instead of administering this tract of land as a recreational demonstration area, the NPS has, in fact, closed a large part of it to public use." Given "the pressing need for recreational areas where the people of the state and of adjoining states may find healthful outdoor enjoyment," the league called upon the NPS to transfer the site to the Maryland Department of State Forests and Parks. [66]

Clearly Maryland-area hunters and sportsmen were the prime proponents of returning the park area to the state. They obviously hoped that the no-hunting policy that had reigned for ten years at Catoctin would be lifted when the state assumed control of the park. [67] Catoctin-area hunters long had had an antagonistic relationship with Superintendent Mike Williams, whom they considered too committed to preservation rather than use. [68] Joseph F. Kaylor, F.W. Besley's successor as state forester, took up the sportsmen's cause. In the summer of 1945, he wrote a series of pointed letters to the National Park Service demanding to know when Catoctin would be transferred to Maryland. The NPS's failure to acknowledge his letters only added to his sense of agrievement. [69] The best the NPS could respond was that because "of the continued military use of Catoctin, there appears no possibility of the transfer suggested." [70]

With the war over, the NPS came under increasing pressure to respond in some way to Kaylor's demands. Finally in December of 1945, President Truman announced that the park would remain in the hands of the federal government: "I have decided because of the historical events of national and international interest now associated with the Catoctin Recreational Area that this property should be retained by the Federal Government and made a part of the National Park Service." When he received Truman's edict, Governor O'Connor of Maryland complained that the federal government intended to make the park a "shrine." [71] Kaylor echoed the governor's sense of betrayal by threatening to end cooperation between the National Park Service and his Department of State Forestry: "We trust that you will no longer brother us with any requests." [72]

The NPS then moved to introduce legislation in Congress that would formally shift responsibility for the proposed park from the Region One office in Richmond to the National Capital Areas Parks. H.R. 3807, introduced in 1947 to the 80th Congress, added property acquired during the war to the park and transferred administrative responsibility to the National Capital Areas. [73] The bill, sponsored by Representative Glen Beall of Western Maryland, slowly meandered through committee and then passed a full vote in the House. Beall promised that the legislation would reopen the park, except for Shangri-La, to public use. In fact, the White House had taken an active interest in encouraging the reopening of Camp Greentop for use by handicapped children. [74] In 1947, the president's Marine guards moved out and the Maryland League for Crippled Children began their first Catoctin camp in five years. President Truman, who was developing a strong appreciation for his Catoctin hide-away, paid a surprise visit to the children at the camp in August 1947 (see Appendix 26). [75] The reopening of large portions of the park, no doubt, relieved the suspicions of some that the federal government intended to retain the area as a military installation.

But the slow pace of legislative progress, allowed Kaylor to mobilize against the bill. His office sponsored a survey showing that the overwhelming number of Frederick, Carroll, and Washington county "sportsmen, picnickers, and farmers are supporting the Maryland Board of Natural Resources." [76] H.C. Buckingham, director of Maryland's State Forests and Parks, added another dimension to Maryland's attack by complaining publicly that all revenue from the proposed national park would be deposited in the U.S. Treasury, whereas money generated from a state park would be pumped into the state, with 15% going directly to Frederick County. "I hardly think," opined Buckingham, "that Representative Beall could have been aware of this when he introduced his bill." [77]

Caught in a war of words between the federal government and the state of Maryland, Representative Beall backed away from H.R. 3807. Like Kaylor and Buckingham, Beall insisted he also wanted to obtain the Catoctin land for Maryland but argued that with the presidential retreat, such hopes at present were not realistic. [78] With only lukewarm support from its sponsor and the anti-Truman Republican Party in the majority, the Senate defeated the Catoctin bill in 1948.

Undaunted, and with the Democrats having taken over Congress again in 1949, the NPS reintroduced the Catoctin legislation. This time around the bill's sponsors stressed use, pointing to the endorsement of the bill by "all of the social service agencies in DC and adjoining states," the "inadequacy of recreational facilities in the National Capital," and promising swimming, boating, fishing and the "almost unlimited" potential of the park. [79] The new tactics paid off. The bill became law, and Catoctin joined the National Capital Areas Parks system (forerunner of the current National Capital Region of the NPS).

In some ways, passage of Catoctin legislation represented a victory for the federal government. But the popular pressure to transfer the park to the state of Maryland had forced park officials carefully to weigh the needs and desires of the public alongside concerns about conservation and facilities for the president. Indeed, the pressure to turn the park over to Maryland continued. Finally, Conrad Wirth, who became director of the NPS in 1951, moved to settle the ongoing tensions with Maryland. He arranged to have the southern portion of the park, south of route 77, transferred to Maryland.

Conclusion

The transfer of the park to the National Capital Area Parks in 1949 sealed the future of a large portion of the park. The federal government would remain a permanent player on the mountain. The Shangri-La presidential retreat, later Camp David, would continue to garner international attention. But the needs and desires of the public remained a priority in park decision-making. Although the park would never again see the sort of development and activity that it saw between 1935 and 1945, it continued to evolve all the while remaining cognizant of its complex, multi-layered past.