Road to Paradise: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Mount Rainier National Park, National Park Service

Dolan, Susan; Gilbert, Cathy

The Road to Paradise is a 18.4‑mile linear landscape that climbs from the Nisqually Entrance of Mount Rainier National Park at 2002 feet, to Paradise, a subalpine developed area at 5,400 feet. The road was designed as a pleasure route and to make the national park more accessible. Began in 1904, the road was made to fit gracefully into the forested mountain landscape, and was aligned to gently curve and take in views of spectacular scenery. Construction details for the road included a palette of materials and structures that attempted to harmonize the road with the natural landscape and to emphasize picturesque qualities of the landscape. A series of nineteen bridges of stone or wood, and a system of overlooks and pullouts with varying degrees of development, all constituted a pleasurable experience for the visitor that sought to present the landscape in the most memorable terms. There are four component landscapes of the road landscape: Nisqually Entrance, Christine Falls, Ricksecker Point, and Narada Falls. In association with significant design and construction, the Road to Paradise is an outstanding example of park landscape design, embodying the complimentary styles of rustic architecture and naturalistic landscape architecture. These styles were largely implemented during the period of road reconstruction, from 1925 until 1941, though the road had existed since 1905, and was conceived as a naturalistic design. During this period, the road design was refined in a partnership between NPS landscape architects and Bureau of Public Roads engineers. Implementation of the design partly involved the Civilian Conservation Corps, whose large workforce added labor‑intensive features along the road. They aimed to harmonize artifice and nature by minimizing the visual impact of constructed developments, while accentuating the picturesque qualities of nature. Indigenous rock, lumber, and native plants were the basic materials for these styles, so that park architecture and landscape architecture would appear to have evolved naturally within the landscape. This design‑era coincides with the most significant period of development within NPS history, a time when the NPS created what is now recognized as the hallmark style for developments within natural areas. The Road to Paradise is an archetypal example of such rustic style architecture and naturalistic landscape architecture. Before 1925, the Road to Paradise was already recognized as an engineering rarity. Beginning in 1904, it was planned as a pleasure road, which would conduct visitors through spectacular scenery in a manner most harmonious with the natural environment. So unique was the early road in its naturalistic alignment and magnificent viewpoints, that it helped establish a precedent for the design of future park roads. Although most remaining features are from the 1925‑1941 period, the alignment of the road is largely the same as that created in the early 1900s. In association with the events of the American Park Movement and early NPS master planning, the Road to Paradise is nationally significant as an integral part of the master plan of the park, as first developed in the 1920s. The initiation of the NPS master planning process at Mount Rainier National Park was a major advancement in the design and management of scenic reservations in the United States. The early park master plan and its associated developments are renowned as the most complete and significant example of early master planning within the National ParksCultural landscape inventory of the Road to Paradise in Mount Rainier National Park. Information on the road includes known ethnographic values, physical content and boundaries, history, construction, character-defining features, topography, vegetation, land use, traffic circulation, structures, views and vistas (grouped by sections of the road), and small-scale features. Includes many photographs and maps.

Road to Paradise: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Mount Rainier National Park, National Park Service

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