Newly arrived replacements at the CCC Camp near Esco (Union County) are lined up before their first meal at the camp. They arrived at New Tazewell on Nov. 17, 1933, from New York eager for their new life. For many of these boys, this was the first time away from home. Photo by famed photographer Lewis Hine.

NORRIS, TN (SPECIAL TO WLAF) – Norris Dam State Park will host the second Uncle Sam & Norris Dam living history event on Saturday, Oct. 23. to commemorate the legacy of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The event runs from 10 am-4 pm.

Special program talks on the CCC and park history will be in the heart of the CCC Camp at the flagpole at 10 am, noon and 3 pm.

The free, family friendly event will be on the site of the original CCC camp one-quarter mile from the TVA pavilion parking lot on Hwy. 441 across from Powerhouse Road. Staff will give rides to the event site from the parking lot for visitors with mobility issues.

Reenactors, dressed in the period uniforms of the CCC and U.S. Army, will bring history to life amidst the ruins of the original camp that built Norris Dam State Park.

The CCC was created in 1933 as part of the New Deal during the Great Depression to put unemployed young men to work on needed projects. Two of these companies would build what we now know as Norris Dam State Park between 1933-38. These men forever changed the physical landscape of the United States and the way people think about our environment.

For more information contact the park office at (865) 425-4500 or visit the park website. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED – 10/22/2021-6AM)