Doughton Park Campground: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Blue Ridge Parkway - Highlands District, National Park Service

Hasty, David

This CLI, originally published in 2011, was updated in 2022 in order to better reflect existing conditions as well as to fill out previously spare descriptions of key landscape characteristics and features. Observational data gathered in the field, as well as excerpted narrative and graphic data from "Doughton Park and Sections 2A, B and C: Cultural Landscape Report, Blue Ridge Parkway, National Park Service" (The Jaeger Company, 2006) and "Survey and Assessment, Blue Ridge Parkway - Appendix" (Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc.. 2016) provided the basis for this update. Doughton Park Campground is an 84-acre component landscape set within 6300-acre Doughton Park, a Blue Ridge Parkway developed area in North Carolina. The site straddles the parkway road and is accessed at Milepost 239.2. Major features of the site include five loop roads, four comfort stations, water tank, amphitheater, trailer and tent campsites, trails, and numerous drinking fountains. Doughton Park Campground is part of one of the first developed areas to be planned for the Blue Ridge Parkway. Three camping areas - hilltop loop ‘A’, tent loop ‘B’ and trailer loop ‘C’ - were completed in 1939. By 1943, two comfort stations (Buildings #97 and #98) and several drinking fountains were in place. Planting plans also appeared at this time that call for additional trees and flowering shrubs, enhancing the existing pattern of tree cover and open space. By 1950, another loop road was added beyond the tent loop. Five years later, a third comfort station was added to the hilltop loop, along with several more drinking fountains. The final, eastern loop road and an additional comfort station were built during 1963-4. The camping loops, tent sites, trails, and comfort stations #97 and #98 all follow established National Park Service (NPS) standards, as drafted by Albert H. Good and Frank A. Waugh in 1935. Rustic in style, they contribute to the overall Blue Ridge Parkway design theme. The two comfort stations added in 1955 and 1963 represent the parkway transition to more streamlined and economical materials and building style. As one of the first campsites to be designed and built along the Blue Ridge Parkway, the property contributes to the historical significance of the road. Development occurred during the first three periods of parkway history, spanning 1936-1955, contributing to the significance of the route as a National Historic Landmark. Construction at Doughton Park Campground began in 1938, and most major features were in place by 1955. All the features dating to this period contribute to the character and significance of Blue Ridge Parkway. Comfort Station #396 and the eastern loop road date to 1963-4 and may be historically significant for their association with Mission 66-era Parkway development. Doughton Park Campground, previously listed in good condition, has since deteriorated and is now in fair condition. The Campground retains all major features from the period of significance, however. Later additions are minor in scale and do not have an adverse effect on the cultural landscape. The landscape remains much the same as it was original designed with a series of loop roads radiating from a prominent knoll. The varied topography, combination of open areas and tree canopy, and building design all continue to represent the original layout of this area as a part of this period in Blue Ridge development. Finally, the original association of the property as a campground for visitors to the parkway continues.

Doughton Park Campground: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Blue Ridge Parkway - Highlands District, National Park Service

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