Interest in the former CCC/POW camp on Moscow Road in Hamlin Beach State Park, “… continues to grow …. more and more people are visiting the site,” said Ed Evans during a talk he presented July 15 at the Clarendon Historical Society.
Evans, who has worked for seven years with a dedicated group of volunteers to clear the site and create a history trail, noted it was the 174th time he had given a talk about the Civilian Conservation Corps Camp 53 in Hamlin, its history and the work that has taken place there since 2008.
He noted that the clearing and rehabilitation of the site has opened up access to nearby Howden Pond, which has become a spot for fishing.
Evans told those in attendance that the young men at the Hamlin CCC Camp worked to develop Hamlin Beach State Park. Their work brought them to Orleans County to the quarries where Medina sandstone was mined. CCC workers learned stone cutting skills and then used the sandstone to construct shelters, culverts and other structures in the park.
Evans showed a photograph of the nearby Hulberton quarry and shared for the first time photos he recently obtained showing construction of the shelter at Area 3 in the park.
Clarendon Town Historian Melissa Ierlan showed Evans tools in the Historical Society’s collection which were used at the Hulberton quarry.
“They developed a pride that they didn’t brag about,” Evans said of the CCC workers. He also explained the use of the camp to house migrant workers and then POWs during WWII following the closing of the CCC camp in 1941.
