The piney woods that now include Huntsville State Park were once home to the Bidai tribe, a since lost Native American culture. As with Lake Brownwood and Possum Kingdom, the park's creation depended on the construction of a lake. Civilian Conservation Corps Company 1823 built the original dam that produced Lake Raven. (Floodwaters destroyed the spillway in 1940, delaying the park's opening until 1956.) The CCC enrollees, all Black World War I veterans, also planted pine, sweet gum, maple, oak, and dogwood trees to counteract the ecological impact of timber harvesting in the area. This home movie captures the Coltman family camping in Huntsville State Park in 1969.