High Point State Park and the Civilian Conservation Corps

Perched atop the Kittatinny Mountains, in the northwestern corner of New Jersey, is one of the most beautiful parks in the state. High Point State Park is visited by thousands annually, and from the highest peak in New Jersey one can see three states and enjoy a vista for miles around. This park, one of the oldest in the state, has a rich history going back more than seventy-five years.

High Point State Park and the Civilian Conservation Corps explores the history of the fascinating landmark, which was a gift of Colonel Anthony and Susie Kuser to the people of New Jersey in 1923. The famed landscape firm Olmsted Brothers of Brookline, Massachusetts, was retained to design the park's facilities. The job of carrying out many of the proposals in the plan fell to the Civilian Conservation Corps, a Depression-era federal agency that combined work relief efforts with conservation work. The laborers, known as the CCC boys, developed the layout of the park from 1933 to 1941. Much of their work remains and is still used by visitors today.

Historian Peter Osborne is the author of many works of regional history and serves as the full-time director of the Minisink Valley Historical Society in Port Jervis, New York. For High Point State Park and the Civilian Conservation Corps, he has selected about two hundred images, some that have been preserved by High Point State Park and former Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees, and some from private collections. Using these unique photographs, many published here for the first time, he has compiled a fascinating history of the park and the work of the CCC boys.