Park A Day: Crowley's Ridge

One June 4 in 1938, Crowley's Ridge State Park was dedicated. The interesting thing about Crowley's construction, as well as the construction of many other state parks, is that they are, in a way, the result of the great depression and President's Roosevelt's "New Deal."

The early construction of many of our state parks was accomplished by a group called the The Civilian Conservation Corps. According to NPS.gov, the CCC was a group of young men who were otherwise unemployed. Roosevelt established this group in 1933, during the great depression, to help boost employment rates. It spread quickly to every US state and many territories.

In 1921 only 19 states had a state park system. By the depression, 48 had plans for parks, but everyone was too broke to follow through. One hundred and five camps were assigned to state parks projects in 26 states to help set up the state parks system.

The young men mostly did construction and conservation work, from building trails and buildings to planting trees. They lived in campes like a military regiment. Most were so young they had never had a real job before.

We can thank those young men for kicking off the construction of many of the great Arkansas parks. Crowley's Ridge is a good example of their work. You can still see their efforts in log cabins, rolling hills and quiet trails.

That's one thing I really like about our state parks. Walking down a hiking trail is almost like stepping back into time. This is especially true of the smaller parks like Crowley's Ridge. This is what Arkansas has always looked like. This is why they call us "The Natural State." It's easy to forget that in Little Rock.

We all need to take some time to remember the past and get back to nature.

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