Description

The creation of the Cedars of Lebanon State Park in Tennessee was a multifaceted joint project of the Resettlement Administration, the CCC, the forestry division, NPS and the WPA:

“Project development began in the fall of 1935, with forestry personnel, along with RA and CCC workers, planting new seedlings of juniper cedar, black walnut, black locust, ash, yellow poplar, and mulberry trees. The crews introduced erosion controls and built roads and trails… The WPA constructed recreational facilities, including picnic areas, overlook shelters on the Jackson Cave Trail, and the original park lodge. Lebanon Cedar Forest was officially opened in September 1937 when officials laid the cornerstone for the lodge, which is the focal point of the park’s National Register-listed historic district. The building is of rough-cut, locally quarried limestone, and its style reflects a WPA interpretation of Government Rustic in its materials and cross-gabled roof… Other New-Deal era buildings in the park include a stone storage building, the Dixon Merritt Nature Center (once a bathhouse for the swimming pool), and log cabins.”   (Van West)

In 1995, several of the New Deal structures in the park were placed on the National Register of Historic Places to form the Cedars of Lebanon State Park Historic District.