Black Moshannon State Park Day Use District
Why it's listed
Along the shore of a lake at Black Moshannon State Park in Centre County, Pennsylvania, this day use district groups roughly ten buildings and eleven structures built by the Civilian Conservation Corps. Camp S-71 began work at the park in May 1933 and remained active until January 1937, and the CCC's first projects included a new dam at Black Moshannon Lake. The district includes open picnic pavilions with pyramidal roofs and timber supports, a large picnic shelter with a log railing, stone pump shelters decorated with applied pebbles, a log concession building, a bathhouse with stone columns, and a former stone pavilion with a large fireplace set into a bank. Its rustic design uses local natural materials and follows the style promoted by the National Park Service. The buildings are important because they show the federal relief program of the New Deal applied to state-owned recreational land, and they reflect the Depression-era employment of many young men. Three later buildings are counted as non-contributing.
Significance in brief: The nomination argues the district meets Criteria A and C as an example of Civilian Conservation Corps recreational development in Pennsylvania state parks. Its pavilions, picnic shelters, bathhouse and latrines are described as representative of the rustic style promoted by the National Park Service, built with local natural materials and placed to blend with the landscape. The buildings and structures are also presented as products of a New Deal federal relief program that employed thousands of young men.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 87000101, listed February 12, 1987. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-haiku-5-5, prompt v1.1-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | 9 mi. E of Philipsburg on PA 504, Philipsburg |
|---|---|
| County | Centre County |
| Listed | February 12, 1987 |
| Reference number | 87000101 |
| Resource type | District |
| Architectural style | Rustic |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Landscape Architecture, Conservation, Politics/Government, Architecture, Social History |
| Level of significance | National |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | The document describes the Museum building as being converted into a nature museum and notes that some buildings were converted to other uses, but it gives no current overall condition. |
| Acreage | 90 |
| Coordinates | 40.91678, -78.06248 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
This is a historic district. Buildings within its boundary are either contributing (they add to the district's significance) or non-contributing. Owners of contributing income-producing buildings can claim the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit; homeowners should look at state credits. National Register districts impose no design review by themselves; a local historic district ordinance, if one exists, does (the difference explained).
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 87000101.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikidata Q98897148
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.