Sand Dunes & the Civilian Conservation Corps

(Click on images to enlarge)

(Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Photo by Brent McKee.)

The CCC began working along Cape Hatteras National Seashore in 1934 (this was actually three years before it was officially named "Cape Hatteras National Seashore"). The first CCC boys on this project were based out of Manteo, North Carolina, Camp P 63. The work they performed included the creation of sand dunes and the planting of grasses, shrubs, and trees. The plantings included Bermuda grass, wax myrtle, water bush, loblolly pine, bald cypress, and more (the shrubs and trees were obviously planted a little inland from the beaches and sand dunes).

To facilitate the planting, two nurseries were established, one in Buxton and one in Manteo. And, of course, the tree planting in this area was but a small part of the overall tree planting in North Carolina. Across the state, 30 million trees were planted by the CCC. Across the country? Three billion trees.  

(Information from Roosevelt's Forest Army: A History of the Civilian Conservation Corps, by Perry H. Merrill, 1981.)

(Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Photo by Brent McKee.)