Camp Toccoa Project Receives Large Donation

A major donation will help more major work take place on the “Camp Toccoa at Currahee” project.

That project seeks to preserve the site of World War II Camp Toccoa on Currahee Mountain and use it to honor and remember the paratroopers that trained there.

At this month’s Currahee Military Weekend banquet, Rick and Letha Phillips donated $25,000 to the project.

Camp Toccoa At Currahee Local Steering Committee Chair Cynthia Brown said the organization is very grateful for the donation.

“It was totally unexpected but absolutely appreciated and because of that donation and a couple of others that we received that evening, we are going to be able to begin work on two of the barracks that we are going to reconstruct at the camp,” said Brown.

Altogether, Brown said they have enough authentic material to eventually recreate four barracks that would house about 128 people for staying overnight at the site.

“The siding for these barracks is authentic, it is what was at Camp Toccoa,” said Brown.

Already at the Camp Toccoa site, the organization has done work to preserve and renovate the one remaining building that was on site from the original Camp Toccoa, calling that building “headquarters.”

Right now, Brown said work is finishing up on a pavilion that is going up on the property thanks to a $128,000 grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission.

“It has been designed so we can add walls when we have the money to do so,” said Brown. “It will accompany 450 to 500 people.”

Brown said they have more plans for the property as funds become available.

She said they appreciate all of the support that the project has received locally.

“Both volunteers, materials, supplies, money, and telling the stories of the men,” said Brown. “Others need to know what happened on that mountain.”

To find out more about donating to the “Camp Toccoa At Currahee” project, contact Brenda Carlan at the Currahee Military Museum at 706-282-5055.