Representative of the 1930s New Deal efforts to provide recreational facilities for urban, low-income groups and families in the form of organized camping facilities, Prince William Forest Park is significant for its several complexes of rustic architecture set in natural landscaping with careful layouts. The park is historically important as one of six recreational demonstration areas (RDAs) established in Virginia, and the fourth largest in the nation. The project was carried out by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and Works Progress Administration (WPA) laborers from 1935 to 1942. Both the CCC and the WPA were outgrowths of President Franklin Roosevelt’s Emergency Conservation Work (ECW) Act of 1933. Remaining in the Prince William Forest Park’s four original camp complexes—Goodwill, Mawavi, Orenda, and Pleasant—are over 150 CCC-built rustic-style structures, including cottages, crafts lodges, dining halls, and various support structures.
Many properties listed in the registers are private dwellings and are not open to the public, however many are visible from the public right-of-way. Please be respectful of owner privacy.
Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
Programs
DHR has secured permanent legal protection for over 700 historic places - including 15,000 acres of battlefield lands
DHR has erected 2,532 highway markers in every county and city across Virginia
DHR has registered more than 3,317 individual resources and 613 historic districts
DHR has engaged over 450 students in 3 highway marker contests
DHR has stimulated more than $4.2 billion dollars in private investments related to historic tax credit incentives, revitalizing communities of all sizes throughout Virginia