This Land Is Your Land: Parks and Public Spaces

Ansel Adams

Harry Hampton With the Bald Cypress Tree That Was Later Named for Him.

Photograph of Harry Hampton, first major advocate who first started writing and talking on creating the Congaree preserve in the 1950s

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The idea of setting aside green spaces as parks is not a recent idea, but in the second half of the 19th century the idea of creating and protecting some areas of the country as places that could be preserved on a grander scale expanded into something bigger. In the 20th century, the policies and management of these protected areas inspired a nation while at the same time helping to set a foundation for parks around the world.
What started off as a landscape turned into a place where roads, visitor centers, research centers, and other facilities were needed to maintain the integrity of these areas. The creation of the parks was not based just on the physical layout, but the political and managerial aspects as well that were need to decide what land the parks would maintain and how that would be done on such a large scale.

Building the Parks

Interpretation of Parks

Landscapes

Protecting the Parks

Stewards of the Parks

Wildlife and People

CCC architectural drawing for the Edisto Beach State Park, South Carolina, bath house, 1935. Drawn By Louis M. Woler.

Department of the interior National Park Service and State of South Carolina S.C. State Forestry Commission cooperating Branch of Planning State Park Division. Drawn by Louis M. Woler. Edisto Beach State Park Bath House. 

http://purl.clemson.edu/A275F68D71E3D6CBA88D3E4BB3559E4C

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The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was one of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal programs created to bring economic relief during the Great Depression of the 1930s. The CCC provided employment for young, unmarried men ages 18 to 25 who lived in work camps and spent their days working on projects to conserve and develop natural resources on publicly owned lands.   In exchange for shelter, clothing, food and a small salary, they planted trees, fought forest fires, dug ditches, cleared beaches, stocked rivers and lakes with fish and built access roads, trails, campgrounds, service buildings and recreation facilities.  CCC enrollees worked throughout the National Park Service and helped build over 700 state parks, including sixteen in South Carolina.