Staff and Enrollees at Camp Pocomoke (Company 1318) at an unknown date.
Camp Road Site - Remaining structures
The four concrete pads in a square configuration near Camp Road are believed to be the base of the camp's water tower. In a November 2014 examination, remains of steel angle iron were found protruding from the tops of the pads. This would be consistent with the tower legs being made of steel. I have seen the water tower at the site of the nearby Westover (Somerset County) camp, which was of wood, however I can't recall what the legs were made of.
This explains the well head protruding from the ground nearby. As I recall, there was another water pipe of a smaller diameter near what I believe is the grease trap. On a recent visit, I could not find it under leaves, etc.
The concrete rectangles near the water tower may have been bases for generators; I have seen generators situated on parallel concrete bases in late 1950s-early 1960s construction. Hard Work and a Good Deal describes the power plants used in Minnesota (and presumably nationwide) as being either a 32 volt system consisting of Fairbanks-Morse single cylinder engines (usually three of them), which charged batteries in glass cells, or Koehler plants with Continental engines producing 115 volts. (1)
The water pipe through the brick grill/incinerator would most likely only served to warm water circulating through it, not raise it to any appreciable temperature at a useable rate of flow due to its size ( actual measurement to follow). I'm wondering if it was an experiment designed to heat water for some reason. If so, I doubt it was very successful. Also, the wide spaces between the parallel bars in the grill tend to discount the use of it for cooking food - most would fall through the gaps. Other possible uses for the grill assembly may have been to heat water for laundry or to burn garbage. The 1933 drawing shows what is called a 'garbage rack' separate from the buildings in another camp. (2) The Boy Scout handbook from as late as 1959 suggests drying garbage on a rack and then burning it. I don't think that's the purpose, though.
The size and depth of the grill seems to indicate some other use than cooking; it is not big enough to cook in sufficient volume for 250 enrollees plus staff, and the grill sides are so high from the ground that it would be impractical to reach the grill from sides or back. I am not sure what it was used for, but I would guess not cooking, although I may well be wrong. I tend to believe it was actually an incinerator or the laundry water heater.
Camp Layout
As previously mentioned, c. 1933, many camps consisted mainly of tents with a few wooden structures. As the other lower Worcester camps were established after that, I am not sure if it ever involved a tent phase. I am also not sure whether or not the buildings were prefabricated, and therefore able to be taken apart and moved if needed, which the army began doing in 1933. This would seem to be the case, though, as there are no wooden remains to be seen.
By 1936, the CCC had in place a system of supplying precut lumber, which was used for the construction of standardized and prefabricated buildings. The camps were generally laid out in a 'U' shape, and included barracks, supervisors' housing, mess hall, recreation building, bathhouses, and utility buildings. (3)
I have been in a number of buildings from neighboring camp D-1/P-1 located near Westover (Somerset County) and know that at least some of those buildings were prefabricated. If so, this may answer my question of how the buildings were removed/demolished. Westover was constructed in 1936/37, however, and is much nearer the railroad tracks than S-62, making the buildings easier to move. I know of at least three from the Westover camp that were moved and repurposed; if any of the Camp Road buildings were taken apart and moved, I don't know where they went.
Nationwide, the administration building was usually indicated by a flagpole and roads, walkways, and parking areas were often marked by white painted rocks. Given the scarcity of rocks in the Pocomoke Forest, I would guess wooden fences or posts would have been used.
I believe the concrete pyramids located at the corners of the four concrete foundations indicated the bounds of landscaped lawn around the administrative buildings. This would have been typical of any Army, and hence CCC, camp.
A fifth building in the middle of the quadrangle had to have had something in common with the other four. I have given this much thought and am pretty sure the four corner buildings were admin buildings rather than something like latrines attached to four barracks. For one thing, given the floor layout, it would have been too small, and I see no evidence of more than one soil stack in each, indicating a single toilet/sink in a small bathroom. They in no way resemble the latrines described on the previous page.
Secondly, it would be a poor idea to put an admin building in the center of four latrines.
My theory at this time is that the buildings would have been for the infirmary, forestry manager, quartermaster, and educational advisor, or something of that nature, with the center, fifth, building being the HQ building. Again, I have found no instances of such a layout in any of the many, many camps I have researched. As the original CCC camp was closed and reopened to continue under the control of the State Commission of Forests and Parks, these foundations, and some of all of the other structures, might have been constructed after the CCC was extinct, using plans of their own design.
Footnotes
(1) Hard Work and a Good Deal: The Civilian Conservation Corps in Minnesota By Barbara W. Sommer
(2) Camp for 200 Men - Typical' 'Labor Camp for Reforestation Projects' prepared by the USDA - Forest Service April 7, 1933 .
(3) At work in Penn's Woods: the Civilian Conservation Corps in Pennsylvaia
If you read this website, please contact me at jr_somers and an at sign, then a msn and a dot and a com
Staff and Enrollees at Camp Pocomoke (Company 1318) at an unknown date.
Camp Road Site - Remaining structures
The four concrete pads in a square configuration near Camp Road are believed to be the base of the camp's water tower. In a November 2014 examination, remains of steel angle iron were found protruding from the tops of the pads. This would be consistent with the tower legs being made of steel. I have seen the water tower at the site of the nearby Westover (Somerset County) camp, which was of wood, however I can't recall what the legs were made of.
This explains the well head protruding from the ground nearby. As I recall, there was another water pipe of a smaller diameter near what I believe is the grease trap. On a recent visit, I could not find it under leaves, etc.
The concrete rectangles near the water tower may have been bases for generators; I have seen generators situated on parallel concrete bases in late 1950s-early 1960s construction. Hard Work and a Good Deal describes the power plants used in Minnesota (and presumably nationwide) as being either a 32 volt system consisting of Fairbanks-Morse single cylinder engines (usually three of them), which charged batteries in glass cells, or Koehler plants with Continental engines producing 115 volts. (1)
The water pipe through the brick grill/incinerator would most likely only served to warm water circulating through it, not raise it to any appreciable temperature at a useable rate of flow due to its size ( actual measurement to follow). I'm wondering if it was an experiment designed to heat water for some reason. If so, I doubt it was very successful. Also, the wide spaces between the parallel bars in the grill tend to discount the use of it for cooking food - most would fall through the gaps. Other possible uses for the grill assembly may have been to heat water for laundry or to burn garbage. The 1933 drawing shows what is called a 'garbage rack' separate from the buildings in another camp. (2) The Boy Scout handbook from as late as 1959 suggests drying garbage on a rack and then burning it. I don't think that's the purpose, though.
The size and depth of the grill seems to indicate some other use than cooking; it is not big enough to cook in sufficient volume for 250 enrollees plus staff, and the grill sides are so high from the ground that it would be impractical to reach the grill from sides or back. I am not sure what it was used for, but I would guess not cooking, although I may well be wrong. I tend to believe it was actually an incinerator or the laundry water heater.
Camp Layout
As previously mentioned, c. 1933, many camps consisted mainly of tents with a few wooden structures. As the other lower Worcester camps were established after that, I am not sure if it ever involved a tent phase. I am also not sure whether or not the buildings were prefabricated, and therefore able to be taken apart and moved if needed, which the army began doing in 1933. This would seem to be the case, though, as there are no wooden remains to be seen.
By 1936, the CCC had in place a system of supplying precut lumber, which was used for the construction of standardized and prefabricated buildings. The camps were generally laid out in a 'U' shape, and included barracks, supervisors' housing, mess hall, recreation building, bathhouses, and utility buildings. (3)
I have been in a number of buildings from neighboring camp D-1/P-1 located near Westover (Somerset County) and know that at least some of those buildings were prefabricated. If so, this may answer my question of how the buildings were removed/demolished. Westover was constructed in 1936/37, however, and is much nearer the railroad tracks than S-62, making the buildings easier to move. I know of at least three from the Westover camp that were moved and repurposed; if any of the Camp Road buildings were taken apart and moved, I don't know where they went.
Nationwide, the administration building was usually indicated by a flagpole and roads, walkways, and parking areas were often marked by white painted rocks. Given the scarcity of rocks in the Pocomoke Forest, I would guess wooden fences or posts would have been used.
I believe the concrete pyramids located at the corners of the four concrete foundations indicated the bounds of landscaped lawn around the administrative buildings. This would have been typical of any Army, and hence CCC, camp.
A fifth building in the middle of the quadrangle had to have had something in common with the other four. I have given this much thought and am pretty sure the four corner buildings were admin buildings rather than something like latrines attached to four barracks. For one thing, given the floor layout, it would have been too small, and I see no evidence of more than one soil stack in each, indicating a single toilet/sink in a small bathroom. They in no way resemble the latrines described on the previous page.
Secondly, it would be a poor idea to put an admin building in the center of four latrines.
My theory at this time is that the buildings would have been for the infirmary, forestry manager, quartermaster, and educational advisor, or something of that nature, with the center, fifth, building being the HQ building. Again, I have found no instances of such a layout in any of the many, many camps I have researched. As the original CCC camp was closed and reopened to continue under the control of the State Commission of Forests and Parks, these foundations, and some of all of the other structures, might have been constructed after the CCC was extinct, using plans of their own design.
Footnotes
(1) Hard Work and a Good Deal: The Civilian Conservation Corps in Minnesota By Barbara W. Sommer
(2) Camp for 200 Men - Typical' 'Labor Camp for Reforestation Projects' prepared by the USDA - Forest Service April 7, 1933 .
(3) At work in Penn's Woods: the Civilian Conservation Corps in Pennsylvaia
If you read this website, please contact me at jr_somers and an at sign, then a msn and a dot and a com