{"nrhp_refnum":"12000904","name":"Bear Creek Lake State Park","other_names":["VDHR No. 024-0034"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"22 Bear Creek Lake Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Cumberland","county":"Cumberland County","state":"VA","lat":37.53020225400007,"lon":-78.27223960688443,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2012-10-31","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Entertainment/Recreation","Landscape Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Bear Creek Lake State Park is a historic district of about 329 acres in Cumberland County, Virginia, surrounding a lake and surrounded by Cumberland State Forest. It was developed in the 1930s as one of four Virginia recreational development areas built with CCC and WPA labor.","why_significant":"The park is one of four Virginia recreational development areas built under New Deal programs, including the Civilian Conservation Corps and Works Progress Administration. Its lake, dam, spillway, picnic shelters and circulation system show the influence of National Park Service design and planning, though it was not held to the same strict design standards as the NPS-designed state parks. It is nominated as part of a multiple property listing on Virginia state parks built by New Deal programs.","narrative":"Bear Creek Lake State Park occupies nearly 329 acres of upland forest in Cumberland County, Virginia, inside the 16,000-acre Cumberland State Forest. Its focus is a manmade lake with a beach, picnic areas, campgrounds, cabins, trails and a meeting facility. The park began in the Great Depression as one of four recreational development areas created by the Virginia Division of Forestry, with labor from the Civilian Conservation Corps and Works Progress Administration. Although it did not follow the strict design standards used in the National Park Service-designed state parks, it shows their influence in its long entry drive, central water feature and structures built of natural materials. Contributing resources include log picnic shelters, stone fireplace grills, well houses, a slate culvert, a drain tower, the road and trail system, and the 1938 dam and rubble-stone spillway. Later buildings, including the cabins and lodge built in 2007, are counted as noncontributing.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Virginia Division of Forestry with the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and Works Progress Administration (WPA)","architectural_style":"Other/Rustic; Other/Post-Modern","criteria":[],"status_note":"Park remains in use for outdoor recreation, with camping, cabins, picnic shelters, trails and a meeting facility. Many later buildings from about 1975 to 2007 are noncontributing.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:02.491857-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/11/6787/41678711/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/12000904.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/12000904/becf4fe39f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/12000904/becf4fe39f-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 2.0","author":"Virginia State Parks staff","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DSC_6850_(5935482674).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Virginia State Parks staff</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DSC_6850_(5935482674).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41678711","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear_Creek_Lake_State_Park","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4876399"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/cumberland-county/bear-creek-lake-state-park-12000904/"}