Doughton Park Brinegar Cabin
The Brinegar and Caudill cabins have been key interpretive sites at Doughton Park for nearly 75 years. The Brinegar Cabin was constructed in 1886 and restoration began by the Park Service in 1941. The cabin was used for a variety of interpretive activities by the Park Service but today interpretation is limited if not non-existent.
Doughton Park Caudhill Cabin
The Brinegar and Caudill cabins have been key interpretive sites at Doughton Park for nearly 75 years. Martin Caudill constructed the Caudill cabin in 1890, but his family was forced to abandon the cabin after a landslide in 1916. The National Park Service acquired the cabin in 1938, but less interpretation has occurred there because of the cabinÆs remoteness.
Doughton Park Stanley Abbott
Stanley Abbott was the original landscape architect and first superintendent of the Blue Ridge Parkway. His original proposal for Doughton Park was a manifestation of a grandiose dream he had to make the Parkway one of the premier attractions in America. In the end, some of the more glamorous ideas were scrapped, and only the most necassary facilities were constructed.
Doughton Park Civilian Conservation Corps
The Civilian Conservation Corps was a New Deal program designed to alleviate unemployment during the Great Depression. Men recruited to the CCC were crucial in building the “built” part of Doughton Park.
Doughton Park Robert L Doughton
From 1911-1953, Robert L. Doughton was a United States Congressman representing North Carolina’s 6th and 8th districts. He campaigned heavily for the creation of the Blue Ridge Parkway. In 1953, Bluff Park was renamed Doughton Park in his honor.
Doughton Park Original Proposal
Stanley Abbott first proposed a rather glamorous Doughton Park that included a golf course and a man-made lake. Unfortunately, only the most basic elements of the park were ever built.
Doughton Park Enhanced Proposals
In 1937, as an extension to the original proposals, Stanley Abbott and his assistant, Sam Weems, proposed building a multitude of different facilities for the area known then as The Bluffs. These included: a man-made lake and beach, swimming pool, vacation cabins, various maintenance buildings, and a caretaker house. In the long run, however, due to issues of impracticability, these proposals were scaled back to only include building of a few maintenance and service areas.
Doughton Park Proposal for Negro Master Plans
Doughton Park was originally segregated and in 1940, there was a proposal to plan out a new set of facilities for African American use. There is no evidence that this “Negro Master Plan” was ever drawn nor that more segregated facilities were ever built. It can be assumed that during World War Two, construction stopped on the parkway and just after the war ended, the National Park Service was desegregated, eliminating the need for more separate facilities.
Doughton Park Bluffs Lodge
Bluffs Lodge opened in the 1940s when staying on the Blue Ridge Parkway started becoming popular. It went through a multitude of different concessionaires, all doing their best to accommodate their guests. Unfortunately, business began to decline, and in 2011 Bluffs Lodge closed due the Park Service’s inability to find a qualified concessionaire to take over its management.
Doughton Park Mission 66
Proposed in 1956, Mission 66 was a ten-year program that was intended to improve and expand national park visitors services by their fiftieth anniversary in 1966. This included expanded roadworks, utilities, and the building of visitor centers meant to enrich the park’s visitors with knowledge about the parks’ history and beauty.
Doughton Park Visitor Center
The Doughton Park Visitor Center was proposed as part of the Mission 66 effort to enhance some of the major National Park Service sites in time for the 50th anniversary of the Park Service. It was never built because of a lack of consensus about the functionality of the center, preexisting budget issues, and qualms as to where the center should be placed.
Doughton Park Mission 66 Proposals
As part of the Mission 66 effort then superintendent Sam Weems pushed for expanding Bluffs Lodge and the surrounding roadworks, and building a new visitor center within Doughton Park. However, due to lack of funds, local competition, fear over the increased amounts of traffic, and design disagreements these proposals were rejected and never reopened.
Doughton Park Wilderness Area
In 1969, the chief ranger of the Parkway, Kenneth R. Ashley, urged the then superintendent to have the backcountry area of the Blue Ridge Parkway classified as a National Wilderness under the recently created Wilderness Act. Unfortunately however, an order from the director of the National Park Service kept Doughton Park from receiving protection under the act.
Doughton Park Modern Doughton Park
Modern Doughton Park represents the continuing state of flux in which National Park Service sites exist.