{"nrhp_refnum":"97001262","name":"Mendocino Woodlands Recreational Demonstration Area","other_names":["Mendocino Woodlands Outdoor Center"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"11301 Little Lake Road","address_restricted":false,"city":"Mendocino","county":"Mendocino County","state":"CA","lat":39.329779352874525,"lon":-123.70044539590363,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1997-09-25","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1997-09-25","areas_of_significance":["Landscape Architecture","Architecture","Conservation","Politics/Government","Community Planning and Development"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 720-acre state park district in a second-growth Coast Redwood canyon along the Little North Fork of Big River, near Mendocino, California, built in the 1930s and early 1940s as a New Deal Recreational Demonstration Area with three group camps and an administration area.","why_significant":"It is presented as the only Recreational Demonstration Area in California, the only one in a Redwood forest, and one of only two group camp facilities built west of the Rockies. The nomination argues it has the greatest integrity of any such area in the country, with its site plan, unpaved cul-de-sac road and rustic Redwood buildings almost unaltered. It is described as the largest and most intact state park development by the Park Service in California in the 1930s.","narrative":"Mendocino Woodlands is a 720-acre state park set in a second-growth Coast Redwood canyon about nine miles inland from the northern California coast. Built in the 1930s on the site of the abandoned logging town of Boyles, it was one of 46 Recreational Demonstration Areas created to turn worn-out lands into recreation space. The National Park Service supervised design, while Civilian Conservation Corps and Works Progress Administration crews did the work. Three group camps and an administration area sit along the Little North Fork of Big River, separated by forest and topography. All buildings are Old Growth Redwood with board and batten or shake siding and stone fireplaces, and a single unpaved dirt road ends in a cul-de-sac. The first camp opened in 1938 and all three were complete by 1943. Few changes have been made since. It is the only such area in California and the only one in a Redwood forest, and it is regarded as having the best integrity of any in the country.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"National Park Service (NPS), with Civilian Conservation Corps and Works Progress Administration labor","architectural_style":"Bungalow/Craftsman; NPS Rustic","criteria":[],"status_note":"Continues to serve its original recreational functions almost without interruption; managed by a private nonprofit under a concession agreement with California State Parks. Of the buildings, only 3 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 02:55:31.758336-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/97001262_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/97001262/ac672ad91b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/97001262/ac672ad91b-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Carwil Bjork-James","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Big_Tree-Mendocino_Woodland_SP.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Carwil Bjork-James</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Big_Tree-Mendocino_Woodland_SP.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123857966","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mendocino_Woodlands_State_Park","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6816702"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/mendocino-county/mendocino-woodlands-recreational-demonstration-area-97001262/"}