Here is the announcement for the August installment of Batsto’s “Beyond the Barrens” speaker series. It will take place at the visitor center auditorium on Saturday August 8 at 1:00pm. Admission is $2.00 per person. This month’s presentation is “The Civilian Conservation Corps” by Wes Hughes.
In 1933, newly elected President Franklin Roosevelt devised a plan to help protect the nation’s forest and get its unemployed youth working. For nearly a decade, the Civilian Conservation Corps. planted trees, constructed campgrounds and cabins, dug lakes, built park roads and lookout towers and all things necessary to help protect the land and create recreational areas for all citizens to enjoy. Unemployed men between the ages of 18 and 25 were given the chance to earn a monthly wage of $30, have a roof over their head and get three meals each day. Coming from families on relief, they were required to send home $25 of their monthly wage home. The work was hard and the days long, but these young men acquired skills, a strong work ethic and an appreciation for our natural resources. When the program ended in 1942, more than three million men working in 4500 different camps across the country planted almost three billion trees, built 125,000 miles of park roads and developed 800 state parks.
Wes Hughes, a resident of Cherry Hill, NJ, is employed as the Director of Commercial & Industrial Service for Goodwill Industries of Southern New Jersey and Philadelphia. Hughes is a member of the Batsto Citizens Committee, Inc. and a lover of all things related to the Jersey Pine Barrens. His love of history, his native southern New Jersey and the Civilian Conservation Corps. philosophy compelled him to tell the story of these special men.
Batsto, a once thriving industrial center is now a historic village of limitless opportunities. Explore this 18th/19th Century community as you walk back in time among the buildings and listen to the stories still being told. Discover the natural beauty that surrounds the area on one of the numerous hiking trails and in the Annie M. Carter Interpretive Center. Make sure to begin your journey at the Batsto Visitor Center which, in addition to having a highly regarded museum, houses a world renowned book and gift shop. Also, the Batsto Visitor Center auditorium is home to “Beyond the Barrens: A Pinelands Speaker Series”. The program, held on the second Saturday of every month, focuses on the various natural, cultural, and historical aspects of this unique South Jersey region. The presentations begin at 1:00pm and last for approximately one hour. Admission is $2.00 per person and the facility is ADA accessible. If you have any questions, or for more details, regarding your visit to Batsto Village please contact John Morsa at 609-704-1910. Come see Batsto again for the first time.
