Doughton Park and Sections 2A, B and C: Cultural Landscape Report, Blue Ridge Parkway, National Park Service

The Jaeger Company, Contractor

The purpose of the Cultural Landscape Report (CLR) for Doughton Park and Sections 2A, B, and C of the Blue Ridge Parkway (BLRI) is to “provide BLRI with an assessment of the landscapes’ character-defining features and provide treatment recommendations to ensure the preservation of these significant resources.”1 Through the CLR, information is provided to the National Park Service (NPS) for use in the future development of this property. Several NPS planning documents have been prepared providing broad direction regarding the management goals for the BLRI. The General Management Plan for the BLRI is currently being developed. Another park planning document with relationship to Doughton Park is the Blue Ridge Parkway Long Range Interpretive Plan, prepared in 2002. This plan states a site theme for Doughton Park, stating “the Doughton Park Area contains some of the richest natural and cultural stories in the southern Appalachians.”2 Interpretive topics for the Doughton Park Area include: The Bluffs, mountain meadows, agricultural practices in family farming, geology, wildlife, weather, mountain communities, Parkway design, history of the mountains— American Indian passages and white settlement, fragile habitats—living in harmony with the land, and native vegetation. This study was initiated by events occurring within Sections 2A-2C of the Parkway involving the historic stone guardwalls which line miles of roadside within the study area. Many of the historic guardwalls along these sections are extremely dilapidated and in need of repair. Several studies have been conducted to inventory and evaluate the existing condition of walls within these sections. From these reports, NPS developed design development documents under Project Management Information System (PMIS) 59596. This project is “[a] $3.1 million line-item construction project to address critical visitor and employee health and safety issues by upgrading deteriorated guardwalls (2,000 linear feet of historic dry-laid stone masonry guide walls ranging in height above grade from 16 to 22 inches) to meet current Federal traffic safety standards…while restoring a key design element significant…to the Blue Ridge Parkway.”3 To date, no environmental studies have been completed for the guardwalls project. The project is being coordinated with FHWA (Federal Highway Administration), and two sample guardwalls containing concrete cores have been constructed near the Parkway as part of this coordination effort. The consultants divided the work for this project into the following phases: (1) Inventory and analysis including historic research and review of background data; (2) Draft report development at 75% and 95%; and (3) Final report submittal. Background data was obtained from NPS as well as from local public archives at the outset of the project. Ian Firth assisted the researchers by providing insight into organization and location of information within NPS repositories. Mr. Firth also provided the consultants with numerous maps, photos, and administrative documents from his research collection. This document is organized into three sections. Part I includes a comprehensive site history, a description of existing conditions, and an analysis and evaluation section that assesses the existing features of significance and also identifies missing elements important in the history of the property. Part II provides treatment recommendations following the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for cultural landscape projects. Part III, not completed as part of this scope of work, will be added at the completion of any site improvements. Part III will include a record of treatment that explains how the treatment recommendations were implemented on these sections of the Parkway or in Doughton Park.

Doughton Park and Sections 2A, B and C: Cultural Landscape Report, Blue Ridge Parkway, National Park Service

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