Dickey Ridge: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Shenandoah National Park
Crosbie A. 2025. Dickey Ridge: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Shenandoah National Park. Cultural Landscapes Inventory Report. 300122. National Park Service. NPS Northeast Regional Office, Boston, Massachusetts / CRIS-CL Database
Dickey Ridge 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 fifteen-acre Dickey Ridge site is situated at Mileposts 4.6 and 4.7 on the west side Skyline Drive along the crest of a ridge also named Dickey Ridge. The site is covered with semi-wooded areas as well as open meadows that frame panoramic views to the west and east. The property is comprised of three areas arranged in a linear layout including picnic grounds, the former lodge (now a visitor center), and a former guest cabin site. A series of interior loop roads intersect and provide access to these areas. The picnic grounds are sited around a knoll in a wooded area with rock outcroppings and feature landscape elements constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) during the 1930s, including a comfort station, drinking fountains, footpaths, parking areas, log guardrails, and boulders used as bollards. More recent site furnishings have been introduced in the picnic grounds replacing original CCC work, including picnic tables and grills. The Visitor Center (Lodge) is centrally located in the development with an adjacent parking lot and a comfort station constructed in 1984. The park concessionaire originally constructed the Visitor Center (Lodge) in 1938 and operated it as Dickey Ridge Lodge. The building’s design followed the rustic style developed by the National Park Service (NPS) to build structures that blend into the landscape using native materials and vernacular construction methods. The former guest cabin camp is north of the Visitor Center (Lodge), and although the cabins are no longer located on the site, the circular drive and parking areas that originally provided access are still extant.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Crosbie, Alison
- Date of Issue
- 2025
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- NER , SHEN
- Keywords
- cabin, Campground, carriage roads, Civilian Conservation Corps, Comfort Station, Concession, Conservation, Entertainment, Historic Designed Landscape, Landscape architecture, Leisure, Lodge, parkways, Picnic Area, Recreation, Scenic Landscape, The 1930s: Era of Public Works, The Great Depression, Touring Roads, Transportation, view