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© 2001
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ECU Field Station for Coastal Studies at Mattamuskeet |
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East Carolina's University's Field Station for Coastal Studies  The Mattamuskeet pumping station being converted to the "new" Mattamuskeet Hunting Lodge under construction by the CCC, November 5, 1935 or 1936.
One major project that the CCC Boys worked on was the conversion of the old pumping plant into a rustic hunting lodge. Contractors removed the huge pumps and boilers and the government sold them for scrap metal. The CCC boys worked alongside contractors to construct floors, dividing the interior of the original building into three levels.They subdivided the huge rooms that housed the pumps and boilers into a kitchen, dining room, assembly room, lounge, guest rooms, and bathrooms. New plaster walls and ceilings hid the brick walls and the steel girders supporting the roof structure. They installed new windows to correspond to the new levels, and installed a hot water heating system. They removed twelve and a half feet from the top of the old smoke stack and installed a spiral staircase inside, creating a 112 foot observation tower. Using cypress, the CCC Boys made all the furniture for the Lodge, including beds, dressers, mirrors for dressers, chairs, and tables. The young men painted the building inside and out, poured concrete sidewalks, built a fence around the parking area, and took great pride in the finished work. With ten guest rooms ready, the Lodge opened to the public on November 26, 1937. Concessionaires operated the Lodge and lived in an apartment in the west end of the second floor. Because of the immediate popularity of the Lodge, the CCC Boys completed nine additional guest rooms with six attached baths on November 1, 1941. Capacity for the Lodge was 55-60 guests, who paid about $8.50 per day for room and board. Between October 1935 and July 1942, the
CCC Boys worked a total of 7,403 man-days on the Lodge project. |