ACKNOWLEDGEMENT's This Author Wishes to Thank All Who Have Aided in One Way Or Another It the Writing of This Report, Especially
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT'S This author wishes to thank all who have aided in one way or another it the writing of this report, especially Dr. Fred Kuss, whose professional contacts in the recreation field led to the contract with the National Park Service and whose advice greatly benefited the project. The author had the pleasure of working with Mr. Jim Voigt of Catoctin Mountain Park and thanks him for his help and hospitality. Archivists at the Roosevelt and Truman Presidential Libraries and National Archives were most helpful, as were the staff of the Property Management division of National Capital Region. Mr. Barry Mackintosh and Mr. Gary Scott contributed their insight and help. Dr. David Percy, Dr. William Seale, Dr. Robert Kauffman and Jean Settle gave their comment, moral support and encouragement. But most of all a loving thank you to my husband, Ben, and my sons, Rob and Matthew, for their understanding and gracious support. BMK i TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i INTRODUCTION 1 Chapter I. LAND ACQUISITION 4 Decline of Catoctin Mountain’s Resources and Economy 4 Early Depression Years in Maryland 6 New Deal and Catoctin Recreational Area 8 Planning and Land Acquisition 14 II. PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT OF CATOCTIN RDA 22 Administrative Headquarters and Central Garage Unit 26 Planning for Group Camps and Picnic Areas 28 Misty Mount and Greentop 31 Camp Hi-Catoctin 39 Blue Blazes Contact Station 43 Catoctin Manor House Day Use Area 49 Catoctin Furnace 52 III. CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORP 57 IV. ORGANIZED CAMPING 1937-1941 65 Misty Mount 65 Greentop 66 Camp Hi-Catoctin 69 British Sailors Visit-Summer 1941 69 V. CATOCTIN RDA’S CONTRIBUTION TO WORLD WAR II 72 Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Shangri-La 72 Creating Shangri-La 76 Cruising on Board the U.S.S. Shangri-La 80 Military Activities at Catoctin RDA 86 The Beginning of the End of World War II 93 Land Acquisition--1940 95 VI. CREATION OF CUNNINGHAM FALLS STATE PARK 99 VII. MISSION 66 AND CATOCTIN MOUNTAIN PARK 111 First Administrative Transition 117 VIII. JOB CORPS AND YOUTH CONSERVATION CAMPS 126 Catoctin Job Corps Conservation Center 126 Camp Peniel 134 Youth Conservation Corps 139 ii IX. INTERPRETATION AND USE 147 Environmental Interpretation 147 Interpretation in Seasonal Organized Group Camps 149 Misty Mount 149 Greentop 151 Maryland League for Crippled Children 151 Fredrick County Outdoor School 158 Round Meadow Camp 168 Living History Interpretation 171 Folk Culture Center 175 Recreation Management 186 Volunteers 189 X. NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 192 Fishing Management 192 Brotherhood of the Jungle Cock 205 Credo Brotherhood of J. C. 210 Wildlife Management 210 Soil Conservation 213 Fire Protection 214 Forest Protection 217 Outside Threats 218 Route 77 219 Impounding of Big Hunting Creek 223 SUMMARY 237 APPENDIX A. Copy of Legislation A227 APPENDIX B. Principle Staff A239 APPENDIX C. Illustrations A243 APPENDIX D. Time Line A245 BIBIOGRAPHY B267 iii INTRODUCTION Catoctin Mountain Park is located 1,400' above the Monocacy River Valley in the Catoctin Mountains on the western boundary of the Piedmont Plateau, two and a half miles west of Thurmont, Maryland, in Frederick County. The park is within an hour of several million urban dwellers who take advantage of picnic grounds, hiking trails, fishing, and nature talks, the way they did 50 years ago when the park first opened. Group camps still welcome Scouts, urban social groups, the Maryland League for the Handicapped and school children from neighboring counties. Catoctin Mountain Park is an hour away from the metropolitan areas of Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Hunting Creek, on the southern boundary of the park, remains one of the foremost fishing streams in Maryland. The park offers the visitor spring wildflowers and fishing, autumn leaves in all their glory and winter cross-country skiing. Summers at Catoctin are five to ten degrees cooler than at lesser elevations. The Catoctin Mountains, located on the eastern edge of the Appalachian range, were a part of the geographic barrier to the westward movement that forced settlers south in search of a way west through the mountains. Route 77, running east and west through Harmon's Gap on the park's southern boundary, was once an old Indian path connecting the Monocacy and Middleton (Harbaugh)Valleys. The path was soon widened and appeared on a Baltimore and Ohio Railroad map drawn in 1629 by Joshua Barney1. Palatinate Germans moved south from Pennsylvania and settled the northern end of the Monocacy Valley. They introduced farming to the rich valley and industries to tap the mountain's natural resources of timber and iron products2. In the southern 1 Joshua Barney, Map, Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, 1829, Library of Congress, MD HR G1213-478. 2 Souvenir Program, Thurmont Bicentennial and Homecoming, 1951. 1 Monocacy Valley were English and Irish families from Southern Maryland. Family names still remaining in the Catoctin area, such as Addison and Beat, preceded in Southern Maryland3. Industry was introduced to the mountains when James Johnson and his three brothers built the first Catoctin Furnace in 1774 near deposits of iron ore and limestone. The present stacks were built by this partnership in 1787, three quarters of a mile up Little Hunting Creek from the original site, to be closer to the ore banks4. At this same time, residents who manufactured whiskey from surplus grain and corn for cheaper transport to the east resisted new federal government excise taxes on every gallon of whiskey produced. The Whiskey Rebellion in Maryland resulted in riots that eventually caused the governor reluctantly to intervene and restore order5. Local sympathy for whiskey stills and their owners reached far into the twentieth century. Ultimately its location near Baltimore and Washington, D.C., led to the federal government's decision to develop a recreational demonstration area in the Catoctin Mountains in 1935. By the early twentieth century, mountain resources and land were depleted by local farming and industrial practices, setting the stage for intervention by a New Deal program establishing a recreational demonstration area on Catoctin Mountain. Originally 10,000 acres, 4,446 acres of Catoctin Recreational Demonstration Area south of Route 77 became part of the State of Maryland park system in 1954. The proximity of urban centers continues to affect interpretation, resource management, law enforcement and budgeting. Changes in National Park service policy and priorities are reflected in the administration of Catoctin Mountain Park. Existence of the Presidential retreat, Camp David, requires special security measures necessary to cooperate with 3 Dr. C.E. Schildknecht, Frederick News. 11 Jul 1973, p. D-2. 4 Charles Porter, Catoctin Furnace Report, 1 l May 1936, copy CMP. 5 Richard Walsh and William Lloyd, eds., Maryland: A History 1632 -1974 (Baltimore: The Maryland Historical Society Press, Scheidereith & Sons, 1974), p.149. 2 the Secret Service. Though it shares characteristics with other urban parks, Catoctin MP is a unique resource with a diverse history and interesting cast of characters. The study of Catoctin historical material reflected four themes: (1) park land acquisition and development; (2) post WW II educational group camping; (3) urban program emphasis after the assassination of Martin Luther King, April 16, 1966; (4) living history and environmental movement. This administrative history was prepared under contract with the National Capital Regional Office of the National Park Service, located in Washington, D.C.. The report's primary purpose is to present the development and administration of the Park from 1935 to the 50th anniversary celebration in 1965. 3 CHAPTER I LAND ACQUISITION Decline of Catoctin Mountain's Resources and Economy The economy of Catoctin Mountain in the late 19th and early 20th century was one of subsistence farm living. Food was produced by plowing rocky soil with horse drawn plows to feed families. Money was earned by tapping natural resources to supplement the bounty from the land, for cash was needed to pay taxes, purchase shoes, coffee, sugar and cloth for clothing. Harvesting valuable timber resources for firewood, railroad ties, staves, mine supports and charcoal all brought in money for commodities not produced on farms. Work in numerous sawmills was readily available. Chestnut trees provided nuts, which were sold by the bushel, as were huckleberries in season. Industries sprang up in nearby towns such as Mechanics Town (Thurmont), Hagerstown, Frederick and Brunswick, providing employment for men, women and children. By 1751 a road led from Harbaugh Valley, west of Catoctin Mountain to Baltimore through Harmon's Gap. A few houses, wheelwright and blacksmith shops built in the woods to accommodate travelers soon grew into Mechanics Town, named for the "mechanics" who worked there. An edge tool factory was established in 1811 with a tilt-hammer forge that operated until 1850. The first tannery was built in 1793, and by 1831 the town boasted seven. The first Lucifer matches manufactured in America were made in Mechanics Town in 1825. A pottery, woolen mill, nail factory, cooperage, cigar factories, casket works, harness shops, ice cream plant, flour mill, hosiery and garment factories all produced goods and employed residents during the nineteenth century in Mechanics Town. Most people on Catoctin Mountain relied on the rich resources of the mountain to provide their living. 4 By an act of the Maryland Assembly in 1894, the name of Mechanics Town was changed to Thurmont, meaning “Gateway to the Mountain.”1 . When Catoctin Furnace converted from charcoal to coal in the 1880's,2 traditional trades such as colliers, woodcutters and haulers were eliminated. The opening of Baltimore's Sparrow Point Ironworks in 1889 and the depression of 1893,3 coupled with rich ore discoveries on the Great Lakes spelled the end of the local iron industry. Catoctin Furnace closed for good in 1903.4 The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad yard in Brunswick, Maryland, built in 1889, and the C.