Trap Pond: the industrial wasteland Roosevelt turned into Delaware’s first park

From Cypress Lumber Hub to Delaware’s First State Park

Delaware’s Great Cypress Swamp once spread across 60,000 acres of prime timber land.

In the late 1700s, settlers built Trap Pond to move logs from these rot-proof trees that made top-notch shingles, pipes, and coffins. Soon, 20 mill ponds dotted the area.

But greed took its toll. By 1930, most trees were gone, and a huge peat fire burned what was left.

Then in 1936, Roosevelt’s New Deal stepped in. The Civilian Conservation Corps fixed the dam and built park facilities.

Trap Pond went from lumber hub to ruin to Delaware’s first state park, where you can still see those CCC pavilions standing today.

Settlers Stumbled Upon a Timber Goldmine in the 1700s

Europeans found Delaware’s Great Cypress Swamp in the late 1700s.

This huge wetland spread across 50,000 to 60,000 acres, full of tall baldcypress and Atlantic white cedar trees. The wood fought off rot, making it great for outdoor building.

Native American tribes like the Pocomoke, Nanticoke, and Nassawattox built villages along the swamp edges thousands of years earlier.

The streams in the area held “bog iron” that early settlers soon used in their ironworking.

Water Power Kicked Off the First Industries

People built many ponds in the late 1700s, including Trap Pond. The first dams made waterpower for ironworks, not lumber mills.

This water energy ran bellows for furnaces that turned the swamp’s “bog ore” into iron. Local blacksmiths shaped this iron into tools and items folks needed.

The big stands of timber in the swamp gave workers all the charcoal they needed to keep their furnaces hot.

Sawmills Sprouted Up Like Mushrooms

Workers made Trap Pond in the late 1700s to move logs around and soon added a sawmill. By the 1800s, farming and cutting timber took over from ironworks as the main businesses.

People changed the old iron mills to grind grain and cut lumber instead.

The area between Trap Pond and Broad Creek soon had about 20 separate mill ponds cutting white cedar and bald cypress for market.

Lumber Fever Swept Through Delaware

From the 1600s through early 1900s, timber companies cut trees from the swamp’s edges toward its center.

Cypress wood worked great for building ships, house shingles, siding, water tanks, and coffins because bugs and rot couldn’t hurt it.

Work crews used long metal rods to find fallen trees stuck in the muck, then dug them out with mules and oxen. Workers cut trees into 30-inch pieces for cypress shingles.

Mills Multiplied as Wood Demand Grew

As more people wanted grain and lumber, workers built more sawmills and gristmills and made more ponds. The white cedar and bald cypress trees became hot items during peak logging years.

People called the pond “Trap” after the Trap Mills, a name found in records as early as the 1860s. Workers used the flooded pond to float huge tree trunks to the sawmill where builders later bought the cut lumber.

Loggers Dug Up Sunken Trees for Extra Profit

After cutting most standing cypress trees, lumber workers found that fallen cypresses buried in swamp muck stayed strong. The busy logging business took down standing trees and pulled up those sunk in mud under ponds.

For decades, families near the swamp used long metal poles to find these hidden giants. These “mining” jobs kept lumber flowing even after most trees vanished from sight.

The old wood sometimes sat hundreds of years in mud but still worked fine.

Farmers Moved In When Trees Moved Out

As workers cleared the woods, farmers took over the land. The old sawmills turned into grain and grist mills that ran until the early 1900s.

A new railroad nearby in the mid-1800s caused the mill to close. Farmers could now ship fresh crops like strawberries, melons, and peaches to city markets by train.

Farmers made the pond bigger by laying drainage tiles to dry nearby wetlands for planting.

The Great Swamp Went Up in Flames

Too much cutting and a bad peat fire in 1930 killed much of the Great Cypress Swamp’s plants and trees. The huge peat fire burned for eight straight months, making locals call it the “Burnt Swamp.”

In 1936, workers tried to claim more swampland by digging a 20-foot wide canal to move water away. The dam at Trap Pond lasted until 1931, when a big flood knocked it out and drained the pond completely.

Roosevelt’s New Deal Came to the Rescue

The Rural Resettlement Administration, part of President Roosevelt’s New Deal, bought the land around Trap Pond in 1936. They stepped in after the flood in the early 1930s broke the dam and drained the area.

The purchase happened while the U. S. still struggled with the Great Depression. Those years when the pond sat dry helped bald cypress seedlings grow.

The young trees grew tall enough before the pond filled again to survive when water levels rose later.

Young Men in Green Rebuilt the Ruined Landscape

The Civilian Conservation Corps worked from 1936 through 1937 to rebuild the dam and create the first park facilities. CCC workers built pavilions and cooking grills so people could enjoy outdoor activities.

The federal government created the area as a recreation spot under the National Soil and Water Conservation Service.

The CCC crews helped the cypress trees grow their branches high enough to survive when the rebuilt dam flooded the area again.

A Ruined Mill Pond Became a Beloved Park

The park opened in 1941 with many recreational features managed by the Soil and Water Conservation Service. The Delaware State Parks Commission took over in 1951, making Trap Pond the first state park in Delaware.

The park’s facilities and beaches stayed unofficially segregated until the mid-1960s. African Americans could only use Jason Beach, separated from the main areas.

The area spent far more time as an industrial zone than as a protected natural resource before becoming a place where people could enjoy nature and outdoor fun.

Visiting Trap Pond State Park, Delaware

Trap Pond State Park at 33587 Bald Cypress Drive in Laurel shows how Delaware’s lumber boom destroyed the Great Cypress Swamp before the Civilian Conservation Corps turned it into the state’s first park.

Entry costs $4 for Delaware cars, $8 for others. Take pontoon tours through the cypress swamp for $8 adults/$4 kids from April-September.

The Nature Center opens 10am-4pm daily, and you can rent bikes, canoes, and kayaks during warmer months.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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