Skyline Drive Historic District (Boundary Increase)

Five developed areas of Shenandoah National Park were added to the Skyline Drive Historic District: the Headquarters area near Luray, Big Meadows, Dickey Ridge, Simmons Gap and Piney River. Together they cover about 180 acres and roughly 147 resources, including picnic grounds, a campground, lodges, cabins, restaurants, maintenance buildings, employee housing and an administration building. Most were built between the mid-1930s and early 1940s, largely by the National Park Service with Civilian Conservation Corps labor and other Depression-era funding. The concessionaire, Virginia Sky-Line, built lodges and cottages designed by Richmond architect Marcellus Wright, Jr. The buildings follow the NPS Rustic approach, using local stone and wood, distinctive concrete shingles, and simple forms intended to blend with the mountain setting. The stone Administration Building of 1940 has chestnut paneling milled by CCC workers from blight-killed local trees. The period of significance runs from 1931 to 1952, and the areas retain high integrity despite a few later intrusions.