Laurel Hill RDA
Also known as: Laurel Hill State Park
Why it's listed
Laurel Hill State Park covers 3,935 acres in the foothills of the Laurel Mountains in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, and was built around a lake the Civilian Conservation Corps created by damming Laurel Hill Creek. Camps SP-8 and SP-15 built the Recreation Demonstration Area between July 1935 and 1942, and the National Park Service transferred the facility to the state of Pennsylvania in October 1945. The historic district includes a park office and maintenance area, four organized group camps, two former CCC camps and three day use areas, with about 210 buildings and seven structures, most of them contributing. Organized Group Camp No. 1 has a central administrative unit, a mess hall, a recreation hall and four unit camps of cabins with wane-edged siding and log or squared timber porch columns. The district is regarded as a significant example of Emergency Conservation Work architecture in Pennsylvania state parks, with standardized military-style barracks and garages at the former CCC camps.
Significance in brief: The park is described as one of three Pennsylvania state parks built by the Civilian Conservation Corps for the National Park Service as Recreation Demonstration Areas. It is said to contain one of the largest collections of CCC-built architecture in the Pennsylvania state park system and is presented as an excellent example of the National Park Service's philosophy for outdoor recreation facilities outside the National Park system. The district is evaluated as historically and architecturally significant in the development of Pennsylvania state parks.
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 87000738, listed May 18, 1987. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-haiku-5-5, prompt v1.1-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | 4 mi. W of New Centerville and PA 281, Somerset |
|---|---|
| County | Somerset County |
| Listed | May 18, 1987 |
| Reference number | 87000738 |
| Resource type | District |
| Period of significance | 1935-1942 |
| Architectural style | Rustic/Standardized |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Landscape Architecture, Conservation, Entertainment/Recreation, Politics/Government, Architecture, Social History |
| Level of significance | National |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Park facilities in use; the Park Office residence is now used as an office and Organized Group Camp No. 1 is used by handicapped campers. |
| Acreage | 1352 |
| Coordinates | 39.99508, -79.24208 (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 87000738.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikidata Q98881342
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.