CCC Barracks: Near Bathhouse

A harsh winter day in a CCC camp.

Winters would have been cold here on the mountain but there was no shortage of firewood to heat the stoves.
When the CCC boys arrived at Shenandoah, they found a landscape that had been ravaged by the chestnut blight, a fungus that had been unintentionally imported from Asia and which had destroyed the American Chestnut. In the space of 30 years, the majestic trees which made up 25% of the forest ecosystem had died and left a "ghost forest" behind. It was a huge economic and ecological blow to the area. The chestnuts were a food source for both humans and animals and the timber was a valuable building material. The now dead trees were a wildfire and safety hazard. Many hours of CCC labor went into clearing these "ghost forests." However, the wood was then used to heat the barracks as well as building material for fences and cabins here in the Park.