(kids play) (upbeat music) - [Narrator] During segregation, this corner of Allegheny County's George Washington National Forest served as a refuge for thousands of black families craving outdoor recreation.

They called it Green Pastures.

Here they could relax, socialize, and just have fun.

Visitors like Ettrula Clark Moore, describe it as the place to be.

- To us, coming to Green Pastures, is probably like children today going to Busch Gardens or Kings Dominion.

That's how excited we were.

Churches would have their church picnics here.

The school would have school picnics.

It was very exciting to us.

We'd get new outfits to come out and we would have a wiener roast where we roast the hot dogs.

And they were the best hot dogs you could ever have, even better than the grilled hot dogs today.

It was a great sense of community.

- [Narrator] Moore says one of her fondest memories was wading in the manmade lake.

- And we were not allowed to go to the city pool, so this was only place we had to come to swim.

So that was one reason why a lot of young black people, at that time, kids did not learn how to swim.

You didn't have access to the water to swim.

I could not swim, but me and my friends would have a good time wading in the water.

It was just a great time to be at Green Pastures.

- [Narrator] Some families would travel several hours to enjoy this small section of the great outdoors.

Once they arrived, be it by bus or car, they'd cross a footbridge, walk up a path, and over to the left was a bathhouse where they could change into their swimsuits.

Further down that same path, the lake, and a stone's throw away from the lake, a shelter where families unpacked their lunches.

Park ranger Katie Gibson shares how each of the historic spots are being restored.

- That's gonna be the old bathhouse.

So there's a man and a woman's shower there.

The Civilian Conservation Corps built that bathhouse.

It's an original structure here to the park.

So right here, we're gonna do new construction for a walking path.

A footbridge is gonna go where it originally was and we're gonna have an interactive trail that guests can use their cell phones to scan a QR code and that'll take them to a web link with more information.

- [Narrator] Students from Allegheny High School did the research that will be used for the interactive trail.

- These students came up with out of the box ideas to find the truth.

A lot of it was interviews from YouTube, make a lot of phone calls, do a lot of research, and double check a lot of research, make sure that you know where it came from and you know that it's the truth.

- There's two different ways that Green Pastures could have got its name, Psalms 23 in the Bible, and there was also a movie.

- [Speaker] Is you been baptized?

♪ Save me Lord ♪ ♪ Save me, save me ♪ ♪ Save me Lord ♪ - [Narrator] They're also happy that they were able to play a part in bringing the history of Green Pastures to those who otherwise might never know.

- I'm hoping people would be educated on all of what it was about before 'cause we will also have like pictures, as well.

And also, that I actually did something that people were actually looking at and getting information from.

- [Narrator] When Green Pastures opened in 1936, it was the first and only USDA Forest Service recreation site for African Americans in the state of Virginia, and it's believed to have been the only site of its kind nationwide.

- My earliest memory is of family reunions that we had down in the field over there to my left and none of us could swim, but we still loved to play in the lake and just socialize because most of the time on 4th of July, we weren't the only families down here.

All the black families in Clifton Forge gathered here to have a good time.

- [Narrator] Jackie Pierce says her family would travel from her home in Botetourt County to Green Pastures at least once a month.

- When we did come down, we would be in the shelter.

Somebody would come down very early and reserve the shelter for us because, you know, wasn't any reservations or anything then.

You just came on a first come, first served basis.

- Soon as we would take that trip down that winding road and turn up into the park, we could hear the screams of little children.

And I was a child of the '60s, so we'd be standing up in the back seat and just waiting for the car to stop so we could jump out and dash over here to the bathhouse, change, and then run over here to the beach.

We just wanted to put our toes in the white sand and walk down to the shallow end of the water.

And then food, waiting to eat food, which was a glorious time.

- Green Pastures was integrated in 1950 and in 1964, the name changed to Longdale, but for thousands who grew up enjoying the outdoor recreation it offered, the name Green Pastures will remain etched in their fond memories and are elated that thanks to students, the park service and technology, others will now hear the story of these enjoyable and scenic green pastures.

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