Civilian Conservation Corps--Company 2363

Here at Berea, during the Great Depression, was the site of Civilian Conservation Corps Company 2363. This camp, one of many in Virginia, was organized in 1935 and disbanded in 1940. During its existence, the company strung farm fences, planted trees, fought forest fires, and instructed farmers in the practice of soil conservation. The CCC, one of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal agencies, was created in 1933 to provide public service jobs for unemployed young men. Roosevelt later noted that the recruits "grew with purpose and principle" and predicted that they would serve their communities and country with distinction.