Hungry Mother State Park Historic District

Hungry Mother State Park occupies a valley in the Allegheny Mountains of Smyth County, Virginia, around a 108-acre lake created in 1934 by damming Hungry Mother Creek. The park grew from the Civilian Conservation Corps program of the 1930s, when three companies of 200 men built its dam, roads, cabins, log picnic shelters, restaurant and staff housing. Designs and plans came from the National Park Service, working with the Virginia Commission on Conservation and Development. The district follows rustic park design principles, with roads shaped to the terrain and hand-cut stone culverts, bridges and retaining walls. Parking curbs are shaped like construction tools. Later additions include a 1999 visitor center, mid-century campgrounds and the former Hemlock Haven and Camp Burson areas, which are not counted as contributing. The park was one of Virginia's six original state parks and keeps most of its CCC-era buildings and original plan, which is the basis for its listing for architecture, landscape design and recreation history.