Parker Dam State Park Family Cabin District

Built by Civilian Conservation Corps crews between 1933 and 1941, the Family Cabin District at Parker Dam State Park in Clearfield County comprises twenty-four buildings, sixteen of which contribute to its character. The cabins are one- to three-room structures in the rustic style, built of stone, wood frame with wane-edged siding, or saddle-cornered logs chinked with white cement. Many have stone fireplaces, stone porch columns, or stone chimneys. Camps S-73 and S-118 worked in the park, and the CCC's reforestation of the 895-acre park shaped much of its wooded setting. The district is regarded as one of the largest family cabin groups the CCC built in Pennsylvania. It is significant as a product of the New Deal's federal relief program, which employed many young men who had been jobless or homeless, and as an example of state and federal cooperation on state-owned land. The buildings also show the rustic design philosophy of the National Park Service, which used local natural materials to blend structures into the landscape.