{"nrhp_refnum":"09001054","name":"Kirkwood Lake Tract","other_names":["Lake Kirkwood Recreation Residence Tract","Lake Kirkwood","Summer Home Tract"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"1/2 mile N. of CA 88 along the shoreline of Lake Kirkwood on the Eldorado National Forest","address_restricted":false,"city":"Pioneer","county":"Amador County","state":"CA","lat":38.70597825750005,"lon":-120.08283136930058,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2009-12-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Entertainment/Recreation","Community Planning and Development"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A historic district of 24 rustic summer cabins around Lake Kirkwood, a small sub-alpine lake at about 7,600 feet in the Eldorado National Forest near Pioneer, Amador County, California. The cabins were built mostly in the 1930s and 1940s on Forest Service land.","why_significant":"The tract is presented as significant within the Forest Service policy of promoting recreational use of public lands. It is also described as a notable example of Rustic design in which buildings blend into a natural landscape. Twenty of the 24 cabins (83%) retain historic integrity and contribute to the district.","narrative":"Lake Kirkwood sits in a granite bowl carved by glaciers at roughly 7,600 feet in the Sierra Nevada, within the Eldorado National Forest. Around its shore stand 24 wood-framed summer cabins, most built in the 1930s and 1940s under Forest Service recreation residence policy, which called for humble, rustic buildings in forest colors. A 1930 survey of the area identified a campground, a Girl Scout camp and a cabin tract. Access is by footpath and non-motorized boat, since there is no road around the lake and motorboats are banned. Materials were originally boated or rafted across to each site. Cabins sit on pier and post foundations, with shiplap, tongue and groove or board and batten siding, and many are perched on or among large granite outcroppings. Each has an outhouse because septic systems are not possible. A rating system found 20 of the 24 cabins, or 83 percent, retained their historic integrity, qualifying the tract as a district for its recreation history and Rustic design.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Early 20th Century American Movement: Rustic, alpine summer homes","criteria":[],"status_note":"24 cabins remain, 20 contributing and 4 noncontributing; used as private summer homes, with no road, no electricity apart from generators and solar power, and outhouses at every cabin.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:29.728645-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/09001054.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123857358","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":null},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/amador-county/kirkwood-lake-tract-09001054/"}