Highlands Hammock Park-Sebring, Florida

Thursday of my Florida trip took me to the Highlands Hammock park in Sebring. I was driven around the park and shown a lot of nature exclusive to that area of the country. I enjoyed walking on one of the trails, seeing cypress trees and looking for alligators(we didn't see any). Above is a picture of my mother in law, her sister and brother in law on the walkway.
Here are some cypress trees, palm trees, and cypress knobs. Normally there would be some water, but Florida, like most of the southeastern United States is suffering from a drought.


The most interesting thing there for me was the Civilian Conservation Corps(CCC) museum, located inside the park.

The CCC was established in 1933 as one of Franklin D. Roosevelt's plan to try to put the country back to work and to try to reclaim the land. There were CCC camps all around the country.


Florida was plunged into the great depression a couple of years before the rest of the nation, due to a devastating hurricane and the Mediterranean fruit fly.

The picture to your right was of my mother in law listening to a recording of one of FDR's Fireside Chats. The man sitting next to the radio was a member of the CCC. He is 91 years old and very spry.

We were informed of many of the CCC projects, such as firefighting, building projects, and other agriculture related jobs. The young men who comprised the CCC were between 15-18 years old. They earned 25 dollars per month, most of which were sent home to their families. They had strict guidelines to adhere to in regards to their personal belongings, bed, footlocker, and uniform.
I had mentioned in a previous post about the greatest generation. They were children to the generation who felt the effects of the great depression the hardest. Their fathers were also those who were part of the CCC.

No wonder the greatest generation were able to save to be able to live well into retirement. They saw what their parents had to do just to make ends meet.

Back to the CCC. The Civilian Conservation Corps were disbanded in 1942 as the country was to be plunged into World War II.

Next: A trip to Spook Hill.