Tunxis Forest Ski Cabin

Last updated
Tunxis Forest Ski Cabin
HartlandCT TunxisSF CCCSkiLodgeExterior.jpg
USA Connecticut location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location W end of Balance Rock Rd., Hartland, Connecticut
Coordinates 42°0′32″N72°55′47″W / 42.00889°N 72.92972°W / 42.00889; -72.92972 Coordinates: 42°0′32″N72°55′47″W / 42.00889°N 72.92972°W / 42.00889; -72.92972
Area 6.5 acres (2.6 ha)
Built 1937 (1937)
Built by Civilian Conservation Corps
Architectural style Rustic-log cabin
MPS Connecticut State Park and Forest Depression-Era Federal Work Relief Programs Structures TR
NRHP reference # 86001761 [1]
Added to NRHP September 5, 1986

The Tunxis Forest Ski Cabin is a historic ski lodge at the end of Balance Rock Road in Tunxis State Forest, Hartland, Connecticut. Built in 1937, it is one of the few surviving ski-related recreational structures built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the state. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. [1]

Tunxis State Forest

Tunxis State Forest is a Connecticut state forest located in the towns of Hartland, Barkhamsted, and Granby. The forest surrounds Barkhamsted Reservoir and borders the Granville State Forest in Massachusetts. The forest is used for hiking, mountain biking, cross-country skiing, fishing, hunting, and letterboxing. Several trails cross the forest, including the northern end of the blue-blazed Tunxis Trail.

Hartland, Connecticut Town in Connecticut, United States

Hartland is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 2,114 at the 2010 census.

Civilian Conservation Corps public work relief program

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men. Originally for young men ages 18–25, it was eventually expanded to ages 17–28. Robert Fechner was the first director of the agency, succeeded by James McEntee following Fechner's death. The CCC was a major part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal that provided unskilled manual labor jobs related to the conservation and development of natural resources in rural lands owned by federal, state, and local governments. The CCC was designed to provide jobs for young men and to relieve families who had difficulty finding jobs during the Great Depression in the United States. Maximum enrollment at any one time was 300,000. Through the course of its nine years in operation, 3 million young men participated in the CCC, which provided them with shelter, clothing, and food, together with a wage of $30 per month.

Contents

Description and history

Stone fireplace HartlandCT TunxisSF CCCSkiLodge.jpg
Stone fireplace

The Tunxis Forest Ski Cabin is located in the eastern unit of Tunxis State Forest, a short hike off the western end of Balance Rock Road. It is a single-story log structure, with a gabled roof and massive fieldstone chimney. Its logs are laid with dovetailed corners, each level slightly smaller than that below it. The front facade is three bays wide, with an entrance flanked by paired square windows. The side walls each have two square windows set in individual openings. The roof is built with an extended overhang, its trusses exposed both outside and inside. [2]

The cabin was built as the base lodge of a ski area that the CCC crews of nearby Camp Robinson built in 1937. As part of this work the CCC also built Balance Rock Road, where culverts and retaining walls also still survive. The CCC also built a ski area in Mohawk State Forest, of which nothing survives. This cabin is the only substantial surviving element of the Tunxis ski area, which has become reforested. It is believed to be one of the oldest surviving artifacts related to downhill skiing in the state. [2]

Mohawk State Forest

Mohawk State Forest, also known as Mohawk State Forest/Mohawk Mountain State Park, encompasses over 4,000 acres (1,600 ha) in the towns of Cornwall, Goshen, and Litchfield in the southern Berkshires of Litchfield County, Connecticut. As overseen by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, the area is used for hiking, picnicking, and winter sports by the public, while being actively managed to produce timber and other forest products.

See also

National Register of Historic Places listings in Hartford County, Connecticut Wikimedia list article

This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Hartford County, Connecticut.

Related Research Articles

White Pines State Park Lodge and Cabins

The White Pines State Park Lodge and Cabins are located in rural Ogle County, Illinois near the village of Mount Morris. They were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. The Cabins are one of two Historic Places found in or near Mount Morris, the other is the Samuel M. Hitt House. The Lodge and Cabins are part of a National Register Multiple Property Submission, they were submitted with several other state park lodges, all designed by Joseph F. Booton.

Black Moshannon State Park Historic Districts

The Black Moshannon State Park Historic Districts are three separate historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) at Black Moshannon State Park in Rush Township, Centre County, Pennsylvania in the United States. The structures in the historic districts were constructed in the 1930s during the Great Depression by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The three districts are: the Beach and Day Use District, with 18 contributing structures, including 11 different picnic pavilions, concession building, bathhouse, museum, and four open pit latrines; the Family Cabin District with 16 contributing properties, including 13 cabins, one lodge and two latrines; and the Maintenance District with four contributing properties, including a storage building, three-bay garage, gas pump house, and ranger's residence.

Red Star Lodge and Sawmill

The Red Star Lodge and Sawmill, also known as the Shoshone Lodge, is a dude ranch in Shoshone National Forest near the east entrance to Yellowstone National Park. Built between 1924 and 1950, the ranch includes a rustic log lodge surrounded by cabins and support buildings. What is now called the Shoshone Lodge is the most intact example of a dude ranch operation in the area.

Oak Lodge

Oak Lodge is a historic recreational building, located on the west side of Schreeder Pond in Chatfield Hollow State Park in Killingworth, Connecticut. Built in 1937, it is one of Connecticut's finest examples of construction by crews of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). It, along with Schreeder Pond and other CCC-built park features, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

American Legion Forest CCC Shelter

The American Legion Forest CCC Shelter is a historic rustic log shelter, located on the west side of West River Road within the American Legion State Forest in Barkhamsted, Connecticut. It is the only surviving one of four such structures in the area built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), and one of only three CCC-built shelters to survive in the state. The shelter was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

Hasselborg Cabin

The Hasselborg Cabin, also known as the Hasselborg Creek Cabin, is a backcountry shelter in the Admiralty Island National Monument, part of Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska. It is one of a number of such facilities built by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) on the Admiralty Island Canoe Route between 1933 and 1937. As built by the CCC, it was a three-sided Adirondack-style log shelter, timber-framed, and measuring about 12'6" by 10'6". It is one of only two cabins built on the route that has a fireplace; it is built of brick and stone. It is also distinctive for its floor, which is concrete slab, where most other cabins originally had dirt floors. Its roof was originally wood shakes, but is now corrugated metal. The front has subsequently been enclosed.

Lake Guerin East Shelter Cabin

The Lake Guerin East Shelter Cabin is a historic backcountry shelter in the Admiralty Island National Monument, part of the Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska. It is one of a number of such facilities built by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) on the Admiralty Island Canoe Route between 1933 and 1937. This cabin, a three-sided Adirondack-style log structure with shake walls and roof, was built in 1935. As reported in 1995, only remnants of the cabin remain at the east of Lake Guerin, near a portage trail leading to Hasselborg Lake.

Lake Guerin West Shelter Cabin

The Lake Guerin Shelter Lookout/Cabin, historically the Lake Guerin West Shelter Cabin is a historic backcountry shelter in the Admiralty Island National Monument, part of the Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska. It is one of a number of such facilities built by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) on the Admiralty Island Canoe Route between 1933 and 1937. This cabin, a three-sided Adirondack-style log structure with shake walls and roof, was built in 1936. The cabin continues to be maintained by the Forest Service.

Mitchell Bay Shelter Cabin

The Mitchell Bay Shelter Lookout/Cabin is a historic backcountry shelter in the Admiralty Island National Monument, part of the Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska. It is one of a number of such facilities built by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) on the Admiralty Island Canoe Route between 1933 and 1937. This cabin, a three-sided Adirondack-style log structure with shake walls and roof, was built in 1936. The cabin, situated overlooking a tidal flat near the head of Mitchell Bay on the west side of the island, continues to be maintained by the Forest Service.

Thayer Lake East Shelter Cabin

The Thayer Lake East Shelter Cabin is the ruined remains of a historic backcountry shelter in the Admiralty Island National Monument, part of the Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska. It was one of a number of such facilities built by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) on the Admiralty Island Canoe Route between 1933 and 1937. This cabin, a three-sided Adirondack-style log structure with shake walls and roof, was built in 1936, and located on the lake near the portage trail connecting to Distin Lake. Unlike other cabins built by the CCC on the island, which were of post-and-beam construction, in this one the logs were saddle-notched together at the corners.

Thayer Lake North Shelter Cabin

The Thayer Lake North Shelter Cabin is a historic backcountry shelter in the Admiralty Island National Monument, part of the Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska. It was one of a number of such facilities built by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) on the Admiralty Island Canoe Route between 1933 and 1937. This cabin, a three-sided Adirondack-style log structure with shake walls and roof, was built in 1935, and located at the northern tip of Thayer Lake, near a trailhead and a small log bridge.

Thayer Lake South Shelter Cabin

The Thayer Lake South Shelter Cabin is a historic backcountry shelter in the Admiralty Island National Monument, part of the Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska. It was one of a number of such facilities built by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) on the Admiralty Island Canoe Route between 1933 and 1937. This cabin, a three-sided Adirondack-style log structure with shake walls and roof, was built in 1935, and is located near the southern tip of Thayer Lake, facing a reedy stream blocked by a beaver dam. A portage trail runs nearby.

Windfall Harbor Shelter Cabin

The Windfall Harbor Shelter Cabin is a historic backcountry shelter in the Admiralty Island National Monument, part of the Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska. It was one of a number of such facilities built by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) on the Admiralty Island Canoe Route between 1933 and 1937. This cabin, a three-sided Adirondack-style log structure with shake walls and roof, is located near the southern end of Windfall Harbor, an inlet on the east side of Admiralty Island. The shelter underwent repairs in 1986. The Forest Service is in 2014 in the planning phases of a project to relocate the cabin a short distance to move it away from a major bear travel path.

Paugnut Forest Administration Building

The Paugnut Forest Administration Building is a historic building at 385 Burr Mountain Road in Burr Pond State Park, Torrington, Connecticut. Built in 1937 by a crew of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), it is one of the finest examples of Bungalow/Craftsman architecture built by the CCC in the state. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

CCC architecture of Petit Jean State Park

Petit Jean State Park was the first state park of Arkansas, established in 1923 when the United States government decided against the establishment of a national park in the area. A significant portion of its infrastructure was developed in the 1930s by work crews of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), and many of those elements remain in good condition, forming an important element of the park's appearance. The CCC crews built roads, buildings, trails, and the dams which impound Lake Bailey and Roosevelt Lake. These features are described in further detail below. Many of them have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Sprucewold Lodge

Sprucewold Lodge is a historic summer tourist accommodation at 4-9 Nahanada Road in Boothbay Harbor, Maine. Its main lodge built in 1927, it was the centerpiece of an extensive rustic retreat on the Spruce Point peninsula southeast of downtown Boothbay Harbor. The lodge is one of the state's finest examples of rustic Adirondack architecture, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014. In 2016, the lodge was listed for sale.

Stowe CCC Side Camp building in Vermont, United States

The Stowe CCC Side Camp, now known as the Vermont State Ski Dorm, is a historic residence hall at 6992 Mountain Road in Stowe, Vermont. Built in 1935 by crews of the Civilian Conservation Corps, it is one of the largest surviving CCC-built housing units to survive in the state. It was converted for use as a ski lodge after World War II. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.

Cream Hill Shelter

The Cream Hill Shelter is a historic rustic log shelter in Housatonic State Forest in Cornwall, Connecticut. Built in 1935, it is one three surviving log shelters constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in Connecticut. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

Red Mountain Shelter

The Red Mountain Shelter is a historic rustic log shelter in Mohawk State Forest in Cornwall, Connecticut. Built in 1934, it is one three surviving log shelters constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in Connecticut. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

Tunxis Forest Headquarters House

The Tunxis Forest Headquarters House is a historic house on North Hollow Road Connecticut Route 20) in Hartland, Connecticut. Built in 1936, it is one of the few surviving houses built in the state by the Civilian Conservation Corps, and now serves as part of the headquarters complex of Tunxis State Forest. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

References

  1. 1 2 National Park Service (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service.
  2. 1 2 "NRHP nomination for Tunxis Forest Ski Cabin". National Park Service. Retrieved 2017-12-02.