Big Meadows: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Shenandoah National Park
Crosbie A. 2025. Big Meadows: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Shenandoah National Park. Cultural Landscapes Inventory Report. 300117. National Park Service. NPS Northeast Regional Office, Boston, Massachusetts / CRIS-CL Database
Big Meadows is one of four original multi-use developments constructed along the 105-mile Skyline Drive, a National Historic Landmark (NHL) that winds along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains through the length of Shenandoah National Park (NP) in Virginia. Shenandoah NP was one of two national parks in the southern Appalachians authorized by Congress in 1926 and established in the 1930s. The 440-acre Big Meadows site is situated at milepost 51 west of Skyline Drive. The site is covered with semi-wooded areas, wetlands, and a large open meadow, providing a variety of scenic landscape views. The property is comprised of five historic sub-areas arranged along an access road that include a wayside/visitor center area, picnic grounds, lodge/cabin area, campground, and maintenance area, and two non-historic sub-areas consisting of a wastewater treatment facility and employee residences. A series of spurs and interior loop roads also provide access to these areas. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed the picnic grounds, campground, and maintenance area, including buildings, roadways, parking areas, trails, comfort stations, drinking fountains, log guardrails, boulders bollards, and fireplaces. More recent site furnishings have been introduced in the picnic grounds replacing original CCC work, including picnic tables and grills. The park concessionaire constructed the Big Meadows Lodge along with the Wayside building and guest cabins, following the rustic style developed by the National Park Service (NPS) to design and build structures that blend into the landscape using native materials and traditional construction methods. Additional buildings have been built since the period of significance (1931 to 1952), most notably the Byrd Visitor Center adjacent to the Wayside. Built as part of the NPS Mission-66 program, the Visitor Center is now the largest building at Big Meadows and features interpretive exhibits as well as other amenities. Construction since the period of significance also includes several employee residences and guest accommodations, an amphitheater, a wastewater treatment plant, and expanded camping facilities.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Crosbie, Alison
- Date of Issue
- 2025
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- NER , SHEN
- Keywords
- Architecture, automobile, cabin, Campground, carriage roads, Comfort Station, Concession, Conservation, hiking trail, Historic Designed Landscape, Landscape architecture, Leisure, parkways, Picnic Area, Politics, Recreation, Scenic Landscape, Tennis Court, The 1930s: Era of Public Works, The Great Depression, Touring Roads, Transportation