Site of C.C.C. Camp P-71, “Camp Recovery”

Prince William County’s first Civilian Conservation Corps camp, part of the national public relief program during the Great Depression, occupied a 396-acre tract purchased by the Virginia Forest Service and the federal government from Jane Herrell. Construction began with the erection of a fire tower after the first enrollees arrived on October 15, 1933. Army Captain T.H. May commanded the initial 80 officers and men who formed Company 299, 3rd Corps, while Chief Warden James M. Russell of the Virginia Forest Service supervised the fire control and forestry work. Although officially designated Camp P-71, the name Camp Recovery was adopted. With more than 200 men from New York stationed there, all buildings except the recreation hall were completed by March 1934. Civilian Conservation Corps occupation of Camp Recovery ended on May 5, 1937, and no camp structures have survived.

Virginia · United States