Pine Grove Furnace State Park. old POW camp. Camp Michaux was a secret World War II camp for interrogating prisoners of war. Picture courtesy Twink-Annis Downing. Nestled in the ridges of South Mountain, two miles northwest of Pine Grove Furnace along Michaux Road, lies the site of Camp Michaux. This church camp, formerly shared by the United Presbyterian Church and The United Church of Christ, has an unusual history that is linked to the iron industry in the late 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries. The history continues with a Civilian Conservation Corps Camp during the Great Depression and a secret Prisoner of War Interrogation Camp during World War II before the advent of the church camp. The history of the site begins in 1785 with the establishment of a farm that came to be known as Bunker Hill Farm. The farm consisted of approximately 250 acres and was acquired early in its history by the growing iron industrial complex at Pine Grove Furnace and Laurel Forge. It was one of several farms owned by the iron industry and was used to supply food for men and their families who worked for the company as well as food for animals that were part of the mining operation. The iron industry failed in the late 19th century but for a time a brick works at Pine Grove kept the company town alive until 1912 when the State of Pennsylvania acquired the entire iron industry estate’s sixty square miles for $29,827.00. A farm lease was held on the property and it ended in 1919. The land remained idle for the next 13 years. In 1933, with the Great Depression gripping the country, Franklin Roosevelt created the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) as part of his New Deal. The Corp’s purpose was to provide employment and training for young men ages 18 – 25. Sites across the country were selected for this program and it was not uncommon for former iron plantations to be selected because the iron industry had not been environmentally kind to the land that it occupied and the land was in need of reclamation. The former Bunker Hill farm was one of two sites selected for the first two CCC camps in Pennsylvania. The first CCC men arrived to construct the camp on the old farm in early 1933. They arrived from Philadelphia using the railroad that still operated between Hunter’s Run and Pine Grove. The men stayed adjacent to the railroad station and set up their dining tent in front of the furnace stack. They walked the four miles round trip each day to the farm site to begin construction of the camp. Once they had a dining hall constructed, a tent camp was set up at the farm and from that time on the CCC camp operated at the new site. By late December of 1933, the 200 men and their leaders could move into barracks that had been constructed. During the course of the nine years Pine Grove Furnace Civilian Conservation Corp S-51-PA was open, the men built roads (including Michaux Road, the road that leads to the camp today) installed telephone lines, reforested land throughout the region, built infrastructure in the state park, and continually made improvements to the CCC camp. By the time the camp closed there were more than 40 buildings at the site. With the advent of World War II in late 1941, the men were now needed for national defense and the CCC program came to an end. In 1942, the War Department was faced with the need to house prisoners of war. There was also need to learn strategic information from the prisoners regarding weaponry, and the operation of the Nazi war machine. Similar needs would emerge regarding the Japanese as the war progressed. Interrogation sites were set up at Ft. Hunt, Virginia and Byron Hot Springs, California in addition to internment facilities across the country to house the prisoners for the duration of the war. It was evident early on that Ft. Hunt could not handle the interrogation demands and a second site was selected from among three that were considered. That site was the former CCC camp at Pine Grove Furnace. The Pine Grove Furnace CCC Camp was remodeled and two prison compounds erected, one for officers and one for the other prisoners. Prison Compound One was the larger of the compounds and was located near the CCC Fountain. Compound Two was located by the old barn wall. Compound One had four guard towers (the bases of two of them survive today), and Compound Two had two guard towers (both bases can be seen today.) Prisoners were interrogated in the former renovated Forestry Office building located along Michaux Road (at that time called High Mountain Road) near the former entrance to the CCC camp. Fencing around the entire 100+ acre site plus guard gates on High Mountain road prevented local people from gaining access to the camp. There were more than 3,000 prisoners interrogated there during the course of the war including Japanese prisoners toward the end of the war. A separate area for the Japanese was created by erecting a fence in the middle of Compound One. The Pine Grove Furnace Prisoner of War Interrogation Camp operated until the November of 1945. The land reverted back to the State at that time. The land on which it was located was part of Michaux State Forest. Andre Michaux was a French naturalist sent to North American by Louis XIV. He was commissioned to study the plant life of the Appalachian region and gather plants for the Royal Gardens. Pennsylvania chose to recognize his contributions to the understanding of the plants of the region by naming the forest for him. In 1947 representatives of the United Presbyterian Church and the United Church of Christ formed an alliance and arranged with the State to use the former POW camp. In 1948 a formal lease arrangement was worked out. Camp Michaux Incorporated (this is the first time the name Michaux is given to the property) ran summer church camps here until 1972 in addition to other activities throughout the year. The Appalachian Trail held its annual fall meeting at the site for 16 years. The churches were responsible for maintaining the buildings and grounds. Leases ran for 10 years with a $600.00 annual payment. The lease was renewed in 1958 and again in 1968. In 1969 one of the few winterized buildings on the site burned due to a malfunctioning furnace. That building, called Michaux Lodge, had been the CCC Forestry Office and the POW Interrogation Building. The churches did not want to replace the building since they did not own the property. The State was not interested in replacing it either. Without the revenue that could be accrued from the use of the camp year round the churches finally decided to abandon the lease in 1972. The camp closed at that time. The State was unable to find other uses for the site and the buildings rapidly deteriorated. In 1975, an auction of the buildings was held. Purchasers of the buildings removed what ever they could take away. What remained of the camp was removed. Today foundations of several of the buildings remain as well as the CCC fountain, the dams on Tom’s Run and the deck and control room for the swimming pool that had been built by the churches. Extensive research has been done about the history of the site and can be found in a book published by the Cumberland County Historical Society (CCHS) entitled Secret War at Home, The Pine Grove Furnace Prisoner of War Interrogation Camp by John Paul Bland. The book is available for sale at CCHS and at Pine Grove Furnace State Park. Information can also be learned by going to the following web site posted by a former church camp at: scheaffersite/michaux. schaeffersite/michaux/history-dave-smith.htm
Posted on: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 20:00:01 +0000