CCC Parkitecture

The architectural style of cabins and other structures built by the CCC is quite distinctive. It is a style characterized by simple craftsmanship using local stone and timber. The idea is deliberate and was adopted by the CCC from the National Park Service.  As explained by the 3^rd Director of the National Park Service Arno B. Cammerer:

IN any area in which the preservation of the beauty of Nature is a primary purpose, every proposed modification of the natural landscape, whether it be by construction of a road or erection of a shelter, deserves to be most thoughtfully considered. A basic objective of those who are entrusted with development of such areas for the human uses for which they are established is, it seems to me, to hold these modifications to a minimum and so to design them that, besides being attractive to look upon, they appear to belong to and be a part of their settings.

The style is so distinctive, it has become known as “Park Rustic”, “National Park Service Rustic” and even “Parkitecture.”

To see Park Rustic architecture, you might think you need to travel to Grand Canyon National Park or Yellowstone National Park.  Instead, head out to one of the CCC sites in Arkansas. All of the CCC cabins are constructed of some combination of native stone, logs, and rough-hewn boards. The best of these blend seamlessly with their surroundings and offer subtle, but direct connections to the landscape.

For example, the cabins at both Mount Nebo State Park and Petit Jean State Park sit on prominent landforms capped by the Hartshorne Sandstone.  Blocks and boulders from this sandstone serve as structural support for most of the CCC cabins and many other features of each park. If you look carefully at the individual stones, you can find preserved ripple marks and cross-beds, providing a link to Arkansas’ geologic past when flowing rivers deposited the sands that later became the Hartshorne Sandstone.

At Buffalo Point in the Buffalo National River, CCC workers quarried local St. Joe Limestone and chiseled it into dimension stone for constructing cabins and other structures. Close inspection of these blocks reveal intricate fossil remains of organisms that lived during the formation of the limestone. A link to the time when Arkansas was completely covered by a shallow ocean.

At Lake Catherine State Park the CCC cabins are mainly of wood, reflecting the abundance of lumber from the surrounding forest lands.  Rocks were utilized a bit more sparingly in these cabins for foundations and chimneys.  The building stones deserve a close look, as they are quarried from the Arkansas Novaculite formation.  Novaculite is rare and unique, a quartz-rich sedimentary rock that is used as a whetstone for sharpening knives, surgical instruments, and wood-carving tools. It has been mined in Arkansas since prehistoric times.

Every single CCC cabin in Arkansas lives up to the ideals of a structure that fits in with its natural surroundings.  Visitors should enjoy the beauty of their architecture, as well as pursue the ties to the landscape hinted at by the details in wood and stone.