Maryland Historical Trust



Maryland Historical Trust Inventory No. PG: 67-008

Maryland Inventory of

Historic Properties Form

1. Name of Property (indicate preferred name)

historic Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Lodge (preferred)

other Beltsville Agricultural Research Center Building #302

2. Location

street and number 302 Log Lodge Road, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center    not for publication

city, town Beltsville    vicinity

county Prince George's County

3. Owner of Property (give names and mailing addresses of all owners)

name United States of America, Department of the Interior

street and number 18th and F streets, N.W. telephone      

city, town Washington state D.C. zip code 20405

4. Location of Legal Description

courthouse, registry of deeds, etc. Prince George's County liber 9857 folio 449

city, town Upper Marlboro tax map 19 tax parcel 141 tax ID number 01 0070169

5. Primary Location of Additional Data

   Contributing Resource in National Register District

   Contributing Resource in Local Historic District

   Determined Eligible for the National Register/Maryland Register

   Determined Ineligible for the National Register/Maryland Register

   Recorded by HABS/HAER

   Historic Structure Report or Research Report at MHT

X Other: Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, Prince George's County Planning Department

6. Classification

Category Ownership Current Function Resource Count

   district X public X agriculture    landscape Contributing Noncontributing

X building(s)    private    commerce/trade    recreation/culture 1      buildings

   structure    both    defense    religion           sites

   site    domestic    social           structures

   object    education    transportation           objects

   funerary    work in progress 1 0 Total

X government    unknown

   health care    vacant/not in use Number of Contributing Resources

   industry    other: previously listed in the Inventory

1

7. Description Inventory No. PG: 67-008

Condition

   excellent    deteriorated

X good    ruins

   fair    altered

Prepare both a one-paragraph summary and a comprehensive description of the resource and its various elements as it exists today.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Lodge, also known as the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center Building #302, is located at 302 Log Lodge Road in the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC). The building was constructed from 1934-1937. The lodge is an excellent example of CCC construction. The two-and-one-half-story, five-bay log structure is covered by a side gable roof with projecting front gable portico. The building is now used as the BARC Visitors Center and has multiple rear additions. The building is located on a landscaped lot with mature trees and shrubs to the south of Powder Mill Road. A paved parking lot and road are located to the north and east of the building. A picnic area is located south of the building.

Lodge/Visitor’s Center

The two-and-one-half-story, five-bay CCC Lodge is constructed of horizontal logs with vertical log supports. The smoothed round logs are laid horizontally, one above the other, and notched at the ends. The type of notching was not visible at the time of the 2007 on-site survey. The building is set on a solid foundation of uncoursed stone. The structure has a side gable roof with an extended west-facing slope. The roof is covered in wood shingles and features overhanging eaves and a projecting front gable on the rear (west) elevation. An exterior-end chimney of stone construction with a brick hood is located on the north and south (side) elevations of the main block. A one-story, one-bay front gable portico is located on the façade. The portico is supported by tripled log posts. A two-and-one-half-story, two-bay side-gabled wing is located on both the north and south (side) elevations of the main block: each is slightly set back from the façade. The building features multiple rear additions. The CCC Lodge is fenestrated by diamond-paned casement windows.

Fenestration on the first-story façade (east elevation) of the main block consists of a central entry with a double-leaf wood door with lights. The entry is flanked by 15-light sidelights. Two bays of tripled diamond-paned wood-sash casement windows are located on either side of the entry on the first story. Four 6-light casement windows are located above the entry. Three symmetrically placed shed-roofed dormers with tripled 4-light casement windows illuminate the upper story.

The north and south (side) elevations of the main block are each fenestrated with one paired diamond-paned casement window on both the first and second stories. These windows are located on the eastern bay of the side elevations.

The west (rear) elevation is one story in height due to the extended west-facing slope of the roof. Fenestration on the main block consists of three asymmetrically placed diamond-paned windows on the first-story. Three symmetrically placed shed-roofed dormers with tripled 4-light casement windows illuminate the upper story.

The fenestration of the north and south side-gabled wings is identical. The first-story façade (east elevation) of the wings consists of a single-leaf metal door and one tripled diamond-paned casement window. The north and south (side) elevations of the wings have a central double-leaf wood door flanked by paired diamond-paned casement windows on the first story. A paired diamond-paned casement window is centrally located on the second story with a single diamond-paned casement window on either side. A rectangular louvered vent is placed in the gable end. Fenestration on the rear west elevation of the south wing consists of a single-leaf metal door and three diamond-paned casement windows.

A one-story, two-bay flat-roofed addition is located on the west (rear) elevation of the north wing. Based on the form and materials, the addition appears to be constructed c. 1940. The log structure is set on a solid concrete foundation. Fenestration on the north side elevation of this addition consists of two bays of paired diamond-paned casement windows. A tripled diamond-paned casement window and a single diamond-paned casement window are positioned on the west (rear) elevation.

A front-gabled hyphen on the west (rear) elevation attaches the main block to a square hipped-roof addition with a raised hipped-roof cupola. The hyphen and addition are clad in vertical board and covered by standing-seam metal roofs. Based on the materials and form, the hyphen and addition appear to have been constructed c. 1960. Three bays of paired 1/1 metal-sash windows are located on the south (side) elevation of the hipped-roof addition. There is no fenestration on the north (side) elevation. The west (side) elevation was not visible at the time of the 2007 on-site survey due to mature trees.

The interior of the main block, which houses the visitor’s center, is open to the public during regular office hours. The main block consists of one room which is filled with visitor information and a history of the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center. The log structure is visible from the interior. The side wings and rear additions are private offices and were not accessible at the time of the on-site survey.

Integrity

The CCC Lodge retains a high level of integrity by retaining its early-twentieth-century form, wood diamond-paned windows and log structure. Mid-twentieth-century additions on the west (rear) elevation of the main block have not substantially altered the form of the building. Originally constructed as a recreation center for BARC personnel and now used as the BARC Visitors’ Center, the building retains its integrity of design, materials, workmanship, setting, location, feeling and association.

8. Significance Inventory No. PG: 67-008

Period Areas of Significance Check and justify below

   1600-1699 X agriculture    economics    health/medicine    performing arts

   1700-1799    archeology    education    industry    philosophy

   1800-1899 X architecture    engineering    invention X politics/government

X 1900-1999    art    entertainment/    landscape architecture    religion

   2000-    commerce recreation    law    science

   communications    ethnic heritage    literature X social history

   community planning    exploration/    maritime history    transportation

X conservation settlement    military    other:      

Specific dates 1936-1937 Architect/Builder Civilian Conservation Corps

Construction dates 1936-1937, c. 1940, c. 1960

Evaluation for:

   National Register    Maryland Register    not evaluated

Prepare a one-paragraph summary statement of significance addressing applicable criteria, followed by a narrative discussion of the history of the resource and its context. (For compliance projects, complete evaluation on a DOE Form – see manual.)

Statement of Significance

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Lodge, also known as the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center Building #302, at 302 Log Lodge Road in the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center is an excellent example of Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) construction. The building, constructed from 1934-1937, is significant for its unique architecture and method of construction in Prince George’s County. CCC log structures are common in state and national parks in the west and Midwest but are an unusual building form in the eastern United States. The building retains sufficient integrity to convey the characteristics for which it is significant.

Historic Context

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Lodge is located in the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center in Beltsville, Maryland. The United States government began purchasing farmland in the Beltsville area for the establishment of the Department of Agriculture Research Center at the beginning of the twentieth century. In 1910, the Animal Husbandry Division and the Dairy Division were formed. They were started on tracts of land known as “Walnut Grange” and “Johnny Hall Place.” The Animal Husbandry Division began with 186-acres of tillable land while the Dairy Division received 186-acres of tillable land and 100 acres of woodland. Building construction began in 1911.[1]

By 1925, the government had outgrown its 472 acres. An additional 129 acres was purchased for the Dairy Division and over 1,000 acres purchased for the Animal Husbandry Division. The Agricultural Research Center has become the hub of a nation-wide effort by the Department of Agriculture to work to assure an abundance of healthful foods for Americans.[2] Today, the BARC covers over 10,000 acres and has more than 1,000 buildings, including the CCC Lodge.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was established in 1933 by the United States Congress as part of the Roosevelt Administration’s New Deal program. The CCC created work for single, unemployed men in the fields of land conservation and wildlife protection. Four CCC camps were established at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, working until 1942 clearing land, building fences and roads, and constructing buildings.[3]

Construction of the CCC Lodge was started in 1934 by the Works Progress Administration, and was stopped due to budget shortfalls when the building was only four logs high.[4] Construction began again in 1936 by the CCC work force. The CCC Lodge was completed in 1937 as a recreation center for camp personnel.[5] The design of the lodge was based on structures in Yellowstone National Park. Backcountry log cabins in Yellowstone were built in the 1910s by the U.S. Army. The building was constructed of logs and lumber from trees on “the farm” at the BARC.[6] A sawmill was set up on site where logs were cut and treated with a preservative. The vertical supports of the structure are 50-foot white oaks while the vertical members are 40-foot pines.[7] Almost all materials for the construction came from the BARC except the hardware for the windows and doors and the stone for the chimneys.

From 1940 until 1985, the lodge was used as a cafeteria.[8] The building was dedicated as a monument to the CCC in August of 1985 and since rehabilitated for use as a visitor’s center.[9]

9. Major Bibliographical References Inventory No. PG: 67-008

| |

|The Agricultural Research Center, Prince George’s County M-NCPPC Planning Department, Historic Preservation Section Files. |

|Susan G. Pearl. “Civilian Conservation Corps Lodge” (PG: 67-8) Maryland Historical Trust State Historic Sites Inventory Form, |

|1986. |

|“CCC dedicated cabin,” The Prince George’s Post-Sentinel, August 22-28, 1985, Page 2. |

|USDA, BARC. “Log Lodge History.” . |

10. Geographical Data

Acreage of surveyed property 2,525.74

Acreage of historical setting 472

Quadrangle name Beltsville Quadrangle scale: 1:24,000

Verbal boundary description and justification

| |

|The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Lodge is sited within the 2,525.74 acres of property comprising the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center. BARC |

|originally started with 472 acres of land. The building, located on a 116.5-acre parcel, has been historically assocaited with Parcel 141 as noted on Tax Map |

|19 since its construction. |

11. Form Prepared by

name/title Saleh Van Erem, Architectural Historian

organization EHT Traceries, Incorporated date October 2007

street & number 1121 5th Street NW telephone 202.393.1199

city or town Washington state DC

The Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties was officially created by an Act of the Maryland Legislature to be found in the Annotated Code of Maryland, Article 41, Section 181 KA,

1974 supplement.

The survey and inventory are being prepared for information and record purposes only

and do not constitute any infringement of individual property rights.

return to: Maryland Historical Trust

DHCD/DHCP

100 Community Place

Crownsville, MD 21032-2023

410-514-7600

Chain of Title

Deed FS 1:483 Alfred and Edward Herbert, executors of Mary Herbert’s will, to Richard

March 13, 1863 D. Hall. (“Black Walnut Level Enlarged”)

Deed JWB 21:393 Sarah R. and William A. McDonald to William T. Hall, Robert V. Hall, Rebecca

April 18, 1892 Beall, Mary S. Hall and Summerfield D. Hall. ($1,800)

Deed JWB 21:394 Richard D. and Henrietta K. Hall to William T. Hall.

April 23, 1892

Deed JWB 21:395 Harriet P. and William T. Marine to William T. Hall.

June 21, 1892

Deed JWB 21:396 William H. Perkins, Jr., trustee, to William T. Hall, R. V. Hall, Rebecca

July 1, 1892 Beall and Mary S. Hall.

Deed JWB 41:542 Robert V. and Virginia B. Hall to Summerfield D. Hall. ($1,250)

October 11, 1897

Deed 66:117 Louise H. Hall, widow of William Turner Hall, Rebecca F. and George W.

June 22, 1910 Beall, Mary S. Hall, unmarried, and Summerfield D. Hall, unmarried, to

the United States of America. ($18,500, 378-acres of “Black Walnut Level

Enlarged”)

[pic]

Photo: Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Lodge, view of the southeast corner, looking northwest.

[pic]

Photo: Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Lodge, view of the façade (east elevation), looking west.

[pic]

Photo: Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Lodge, view of the west elevation and rear addition, looking south.

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[1] The Agricultural Research Center, Prince George’s County Historical Commission files.

[2] The Agricultural Research Center, Prince George’s County Historical Commission files.

[3] Pearl, Susan G., “Civilian Conservation Corps Lodge,” (PG: 67-8) Maryland Historical Trust State Historic Sites Inventory Form (1986), 8:1.

[4] USDA, BARC, “Log Lodge History,” (accessed July 9, 2007).

[5] Pearl, Susan G., “Civilian Conservation Corps Lodge,” (PG: 67-8) Maryland Historical Trust State Historic Sites Inventory Form (1986), 8:1.

[6] USDA, BARC, “Log Lodge History,” (accessed July 9, 2007).

[7] USDA, BARC, “Log Lodge History,” (accessed July 9, 2007).

[8] “CCC dedicated cabin,” The Prince George’s Post-Sentinel, August 22-28, 1985, Page 2.

[9] “CCC dedicated cabin,” The Prince George’s Post-Sentinel, August 22-28, 1985, Page 2.

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