Renovo Heritage Park Receives Grant
by Christopher Miller
RENOVO – Clinton County owes a great deal of its scenic navigable vistas, state parks and forests to the backbreaking work of the Civilian Conservation Corps. Now those vistas and sites are even more navigable to explorers and history buffs thanks to a new pamphlet driving tour of Clinton County and the Lumber Heritage Region.
During the month of May1933 Clinton County railroad depots were flooded with young men charged with a new energy from Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s newest “alphabet soup” program, the CCC. The Civilian Conservation Corps marched men into the woods near many locales to build trails, roads, improve streams, fight fires and plant trees that were destroyed during lumber era of the late 1800s.
Financing for the project was provided by the Lumber Heritage Region, Inc. & The Pennsylvania Wilds Planning Team with a C2P2 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. The Greater Renovo Area Heritage Park was able to receive a $2,500 matching grant from the Lumber Heritage Region for the creation of this map, website and driving tour. The Lumber Heritage Region of Pennsylvania is one of the 12 state Heritage Areas and is the largest of them all.
There are a number of tours one can take to learn about the CCC’s role in north central Pennsylvania. The driving tour map includes stops at museums, landmarks, CCC worker statues, Lumber Heritage routes and Lumber Heritage places. Using a smart phone would also benefit the tour goer by being able to scan QR codes on the map for additional information, vital maps and Internet resources.
The driving tour map is currently available at the Clinton County Economic Partnership, Renovo Visitor’s Center and the Greater Renovo Area Heritage Park headquarters.
The CCC Driving Tour, map and website are ongoing projects with the Pennsylvania Lumber Heritage Region, Inc. in connecting Clinton County’s story with their own.
