Guest Exhibit Case

The Guest Exhibit is currently about the CCC/POW Camp in Hamlin, NY.

Currently located at the Sweden Town Hall lobby.

Items in this case have been collected either by finding during the unburying of the camps, or by donation once people heard about the site. The items were graciously provided by Ed Evans, a retired teacher and former official for the Town of Hamlin, who was instrumental in unburying the camps and spreading the word about the site. 

The painting on an easel next to the exhibit case was painted by a German POW and given to a girl who lived next door to the camp for her birthday.

This is the only print Historian Mary Smith made. The original is hanging in the park office lobby. The artist’s name is hidden by the matting on the original. The painting was donated by the brother of the girl.

Shadow box with a CCC hat, book and picture are on loan from Donald Sterwerf, West Harrison, IN.

Below the shadow box, is a page of pictures including a class photograph and picture of the American Flag and main grounds donated to the Town of Hamlin, New York from the Men of the Civilian Conservation Corps Co 1252 SP-53 Hamlin Beach, NY, September 6, 1980.

Sample of artifacts found at the site. This CCC pin was dug up by a woodchuck and found next to the hole and dirt mound left by the animal. A fisherman found the item on their way to the pond.

A picture of the migrants from the Bahamas who lived in the camp during the summer of 1943. Replaced by Italian POWs and Germans soon thereafter.

Sample of what Mother Nature put into place to hide and protect the site for 70 years. Hundreds of feet were cut and removed from the site. 

WWII First Aid Kit – given to Ed Evans by Mrs. Speed, the owner of the Grimm Farm to the west of the camp. The kit was found in the barn. The relationship between the Grimm’s and the CCC and POW camps was very neighborly. The Grimm Farm got their water from a complimentary water line from the CCC camp. Ed Evans believes the kit was given to the Grimm family by someone in the CCC.

One of the 140 letters written to James Giancaterin when he was in the CCC for 1 ½ years. The letters were addressed to James Giancaterin, Barracks #5, Hamlin, New York. All his friends called him Jimmy G.

Jimmy G was from downtown Rochester and his father had just died in a workplace fire. Jimmy quit school at the end of his junior year and signed up for the CCC to help his mother (who spoke no English) support their family. He was bright, outgoing, and a good worker. He sang solo at weekly talent contests between the five barracks, worked for the camp’s weekly newspaper, and earned the nickname “Lady Killer.” Westside News – July 13, 2025, edition

The Hamlin Special number 85 was the company newsletter published by the camp.

A History of Hamlin Beach State Park and Civilian Conservation Corps Company 1252, Camp S. P. – 53, Hamlin, New York, edited and compiled by Mary Smith, Hamlin Town Historian, With Additional Contributions by James T. Shanley, William Walker, Carl Shapiro, Leon Randall and the men of Co. 1252, S.P. – 53 published by the Town of Hamlin, 1985.

The Jacobs Aerial photograph of the Hamlin CCC Camp about 1942-43 (after the camp closed) was thought to be taken as part of the application to have the POW camp located here.

Ed Evans, Hamlin, NY. led a dedicated group of volunteers who uncovered the Hamlin CCC/POW camp on Moscow Road. Picture shows the location of the camp flagpole found in November 2008. That enabled the group to locate other aspects of the camp including the barracks, latrines, mess hall, and recreation building.

POWs cleaning out empty buildings hoarded the empty bottles and filled them with homemade booze to take to work with them. They hid the bottles wherever they could.

A German newspaper article about Gottfried Schulze and Heinrich Willert, German POWs in the same barracks in Hamlin in 1944 who were introduced to each other in 2012.