Cabin Camp 1: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Prince William Forest Park, National Park Service

Moss, Saylor

Cabin Camp 1 (CC1) is a 13 acre planned organized camp site near the NW border of Prince William Forest Park, which is located 35 miles south of Washington, D.C. in Prince William County, VA. The organization of CC1 is a typical example of preferred group camping sites as envisioned by the NPS planners of the 1930s, which includes an administration building, staff quarters, bath houses, wash houses, dining hall, and a non-historic fire house. Compacted earth roads lead from the central core to four camp units. Each unit has sleeping cabins, a bath house and a lodge with a covered porch. The camp is located in primarily first and second successional mixed deciduous forest. President Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced the Recreational Demonstration Area (RDA) as part of the New Deal in 1933. Forty-six RDAs were chosen for their proximity to large cities and availability of resources. Chopawamsic’s resources, size and proximity to the nation’s capital became a model for RDAs to follow. The NPS created plans for the site utilizing rustic architectural style where urban dwellers could connect with nature. Cabin Camp 1 was the first built of 5 organized camps that were designed to house 150 campers each at Chopawamsic. The CCC built and lived in a temporary camp in what is now the playfield at CC1 from 1935 to 1939. Skilled and unskilled laborers used indigenous materials to construct over 49 buildings, roads and trails, infrastructure and a dam in Quantico Creek that served as a swimming hole for campers. The first campers were underprivileged white children from inner city D.C., but eventually CC1 was designated for use by black children. In 1938, it was commonly known as Camp Lichtman, and used by the 12th Street branch of the Washington, D.C. YMCA, the first black YMCA in the country. Sponsor Abe E. Lichtman was a well-known Jewish philanthropist. In 1942 use of the camps were transformed when the nation’s first intelligence agency, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) established training facilities at Chopawamsic. The OSS winterized the park structures, improved kitchen facilities and built additional buildings to accommodate their needs. For security reasons, Chopawamsic was closed to the public. By October of 1945 the OSS vacated CC1. Camp activities resumed the following summer and the park was renamed Prince William Forest Park (PRWI) in 1948. Most of the RDAs became state parks. Today, CC1 no longer serves as a youth camp, but is rented out for group camping. A National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property listing for architecture at Prince William Forest Park was approved in 1989. A National Register of Historic Places Registration for Chopawamsic RDA Camp Goodwill Historic District was created, and includes Cabin Camp 1. The period of significance is noted as 1933-1942. A comprehensive National Register nomination for Prince William Forest Park is currently in the final phases of approval. It also finds CC1 significant for Criteria A, C and D. The period of significance is 1935, the year Chopawamsic RDA and CCC Camp SP-22 were established, to 1945, the year that the OSS left Chopawamsic. Several structures have been replaced with modern structures overtime. However, contributing features generally date to the primary planning/CCC era of the camp and retain integrity in all seven aspects recognized the National Register. Overall, Cabin Camp 1 is in fair condition. The determination of fair primarily derives from the deterioration of some of the building foundations, the dining hall in particular, and the sediment build-up around the base of buildings, particularly at the infirmary.

Cabin Camp 1: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Prince William Forest Park, National Park Service

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