Camp Nancy

Duane's take

The official marker for Camp Nancy in Angelina County is the source of this story, and I'm just the one bringin' it to you on the road. Now, the Piney Woods of east Texas in the early twentieth century were lousy with logging camps. Spring up, strip the timber, move on.

Most of them didn't last long enough to leave much of a mark. But one camp, tucked into the trees of Angelina County, had a little more staying power than the rest. They called it Camp Nancy.

It started in Nacogdoches County, the way a lot of things start, somewhere other than where they end up. Around 1918, the camp was moved to the Angelina County community of Dunkin. And once it landed there, the Angelina County Lumber Company got serious.

They constructed offices, a commissary, a school, tenant homes, and boxcar homes for workers and their families. Boxcar homes. People were living in boxcars, raising kids, going to school, building something like a life in the middle of all those pines.

Then in 1922, the Macmillan Naval Stores Company contracted to harvest pine resin from the forests surrounding Nancy, and a turpentine operation was established right alongside the logging. This camp was stacking enterprises like cordwood. Now here's where Camp Nancy starts to separate itself from the pack.

Most logging camps, like I said, were short-lived enterprises. But Camp Nancy existed for approximately sixteen years. Sixteen.

In a business where camps blinked in and out like fireflies, that is a long, long burn. And a good part of the credit goes to something the Angelina County Lumber Company figured out about those open east Texas woods. They ditched the ox teams.

Ditched the mules. And replaced them with four-line rehaul skidders. The efficiency of those skidders hastened the logging process.

It also hastened, the marker is honest enough to say, the exploitation of the southeast Texas forest. They were good at what they were doing. Maybe too good.

But then the company did something remarkable, something that doesn't often show up in the story of a logging camp. In 1925, they planted one hundred pounds of longleaf pine seed. One hundred pounds of seed, the first large-scale direct seeding effort in Texas designed to reforest cutover land.

The same company that was taking the forest down was trying, in the same breath, to put it back up. The logging operations were moved to Tyler County in 1933. The following year, the Civilian Conservation Corps established a work camp at the site and kept the reforestation work going.

And in 1936, the site became part of Angelina National Forest. Once the CCC camp closed, the site was virtually abandoned. The offices, the commissary, the school, the boxcar homes, all of it swallowed back by the woods that the camp had spent sixteen years hauling out of the ground.

Camp Nancy. It came out of Nacogdoches, put down roots in Angelina County, figured out how to last longer than almost anyone expected, and then, when it was done, handed the land back to the forest. Not a bad ending for a logging camp.

What the marker says

Camp Nancy Camp Nancy began as one of many logging camps established in the Piney Woods of east Texas during the early 20th century. The camp was first created inNacogdoches County, but was moved to the Angelina County community of Dunkin ca. 1918. Once the camp was relocated, the Angelina County Lumber Company constructed offices, a commissary, a school and tenant homes and boxcar homes for workers and their families. In 1922, the Macmillan naval Stores Company contracted to harvest pine resin from the forests surrounding Nancy, and a turpentine operation was established. While most logging camps were short-lived enterprises, Camp Nancy existed for approximately 16 years. The camp’s longevity can in part be credited to the technological advances developed and implemented at the site. The Angelina County Lumber Company took advantage of the openness of the woods to replace ox and mule teams with four-line rehaul skidders. The efficiency of the skidders hastened the logging process, as well as the exploitation of the southeast Texas forest. The company then implemented the first large-scale direct seeding effort in Texas designed to reforest cutover land, planting 100 pounds of longleaf pine seed in 1925. The camp’s logging operations were moved to Tyler County in 1933. The following year, the Civilian Conservation Corps established a work camp at the site and continued reforestation efforts. In 1936, the site became part of Angelina National Forest, and once the CCC Camp closed, the site was virtually abandoned.