A Forest Guard’s Life in the White Mountain National Forest 1926-1937

In the spring of 1926, Alva Richardson was selected by the US Forest Service to be a Forest Guard in the WMNF. In the fall of 1926, he and his wife, Mildred Everett, settled at a Guard Station located where the Wild River Campground is today, where they lived from spring to late fall over the next seven years and year round from 1933 to 1937. They had three children, the oldest of which, Betty, was born at Wild River. She was the first recorded birth in the WMNF and was named the WMNF baby.  Mildred, a devoted photographer, took many photos while living in the Forest, and after Alva’s death, she typed out her memoirs of her and Alva’s life during that time. Both the photos and her memoirs provide a unique record of the early days of the WMNF. Join Caroleen “Mac” McKenzie-Dudley, one of Mildred and Alva’s granddaughters, as she tells their story, and view some of the many tools Alva used as a Forest Guard, currently on display in the exhibit.