As we celebrate the United States’ 250th anniversary, the America250 initiative invites us to uncover the layers of history beneath the landscapes we love. At Callville Bay Marina, a proud member of the Adventures Unbound family, we are honoring the Civilian Conservation Corps workers who built the recreation infrastructure that transformed the Lake Mead shoreline from raw desert into a destination for millions.

A Drowned Town, a New Beginning

Long before boaters anchored at Callville Bay, this stretch of the Colorado River was home to a Mormon steamboat landing established in 1864 by Anson Call under Brigham Young’s directive. For over a decade, Callville served as the head of navigation on the Colorado River, a vital supply point 408 miles upriver from Fort Yuma. The settlement was abandoned in 1869 and eventually swallowed by the rising waters of Lake Mead after Hoover Dam’s completion in 1935.

What rose in its place was something entirely new. In 1936, the Boulder Dam Recreation Area was established as the first national recreation area in American history. CCC camps at Boulder City, designated SP-4 and SP-6, became the workforce behind this transformation. CCC enrollees from these camps built the foundational recreation infrastructure across the entire Lake Mead shoreline, from grading beaches to constructing bathhouses and boat docks. At Hemenway Wash, they created Boulder Beach by hand, grading and sanding a half-mile stretch, planting lawns and trees to create a desert oasis. They even built the Lake Mead Overlook, a rock wall viewpoint west of the dam where visitors first glimpsed the new lake that had swallowed old Callville.

Boating Above History

Today, when you launch a boat from Callville Bay, you are floating above the remains of a 19th-century pioneer settlement, on a lake whose recreation infrastructure was born from CCC labor during the Great Depression. The road access, the shoreline development, the very concept of Lake Mead as a public playground all trace back to those young corps members who turned desert into destination.

To learn more about how we are celebrating the diverse stories behind America’s national heritage, visit America250 at Adventures Unbound.