Prince William Forest Park Heritage Days harken to New Deal

By Aileen Streng

Published: May 31, 2008

Prince William Forest Park is celebrating the 1930s this weekend, an era steeped in its own history, with Heritage Days.

"This is the 75th anniversary of the New Deal," said Park Ranger Laura Cohen on Saturday. "We wouldn't be here it if wasn't for the New Deal."

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt created the domestic reform program in the 1930s to provide relief and recovery during the Great Depression.

One of the initiatives was the Civilian Conservation Corps, which put young unemployed men to work. It was the CCC that built Prince William Forest Park.

"We are celebrating our New Deal heritage and drawing from the 1930s era, which is often over-looked because the Great Depression is depressing but there are a lot of things we can learn from it," Cohen said.

And visitors to the event had plenty of opportunities to learn on Saturday. Heritage Days continues today from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The event includes entertainment from jazz and bluegrass artists playing the music of the 1930s.

Children have the opportunity to experience how children of the Great Depression found ways to have fun even through the tough times. On Saturday, they played hopscotch, jacks and red rover along with other games.

"They played these games because they didn't cost anything," Cohen said.

Antique Ford cars from the late 1920s and early 1930s were on hand for view.

Parker White, 6, of Stafford County, pointed out one of the differences he found between the antique cars and today's versions.

"Those cars' honkers [horns] are on the outside. Our cars' honkers are inside," Parker explained. He could also point to his favorite car.

"It has really cool seats," Parker said. "They are awesome."

Parker's dad Scott White said he brought his son to the event because they had moved to the area three weeks ago and thought it sounded like a fun event as well as an opportunity to check out the national park.

There was a Radio and TV Museum set up for the event where visitors could listen to, among other things, a recording of "The Shadow" radio show, one of the most popular radio programs of the 1930s.

Fay LeCompte and Terry Fisher from the Blacksmith Guild of Potomac demonstrated how tools were made during the era. Blacksmithing was one of the most important trades that young men learned in the CCC.

"Up until the late 18th century, we made everything," LeCompte said. "In the 21st century we are trying to bring it back."

LeCompte, 74, is a self-taught blacksmith of 40 years. He spends his time traveling around to events such as Heritage Days, demonstrating his craft.

Donna Zadnik of Arlington brought her daughter Janelle Cassell and Cassell's children, Naomi, 12, and Joseph, 9, all of Stafford, to the event.

The group spent quite a bit of time watching LeCompte make a decorative wall hook out of an iron rod.

"This is very interesting," Zadnik said, adding that she was a bit surprised that the children were interested enough to watch for so long.

Staff writer Aileen Streng can be reached at 703-878-8010.