The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed the Hard Labor Creek Recreational Demonstration Area in 1934 on 5,804-acres acquired by the National Park Service with plans for it to be a National Park. The reforestation and recreational usage effort involved planting 850,000 trees and constructing two lakes including the 274-acre Lake Rutledge. The CCC, together with the U.S. Forestry Service, were responsible for many of the park’s original structures and landscapes such as roads, bridges, retaining walls, Camp Rutledge, and several facilities at Camp Daniel Morgan. Hard Labor Creek became a National Park in 1939 and remained so until 1946 when it was turned over to the state of Georgia. Today, Hard Labor Creek State Park is Georgia’s second largest state park and home to the only surviving CCC camp in the state, earning it recognition on the National Register of Historic Places.
