Build a Resort

Located near the southern entrance of Temple Mountains National Park, this rustic stone-and-timber day-lodge today serves as a small snack bar and barbeque area for passing visitors. The building has a history going back much further than just a recreation area though, having gotten its start as a community meeting place for the first European inhabitants of the Temple Mountains during the days of timber harvesting, and eventually becoming the first lodging in the area for a few years (though still a far cry from its spiritual successor, the luxurious Silverado Hotel, that now sits a few miles downstream from it!).

The next chapter of this building’s history came in the 1930’s, during the height of the Great Depression. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was established as part of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, and groups of young men who were out of work because of the Depression were sent all around the country to undertake various public works projects. Many western National Parks like Temple Mountains owe much of their infrastructure to projects undertaken by the CCC during the 1930s and early 40s.

During this time, this lodge served as the officer’s quarters for the CCC camp, as well as a mess hall and recreation center for the enrollees. The three large fireplaces kept the building warm even during bitterly cold winter mountain nights, and the nearby Eureka Creek, a tributary of the larger Silverado Creek that flows through much of the southern Temple Mountains, was a popular place to swim during hot summer days. This CCC camp focused on projects along the Silverado Creek Valley, building bridges, constructing roads, and laying the telegraph cables that first allowed for rapid communications between Temple Mountains National Park and the outside world.

Once the United States entered into World War II at the end of 1941, the CCC quickly began to fade away, as the young men who had made up its ranks began to enlist in the armed forces and shipped out to Europe and the Pacific. The building was never deserted though, as locations like Yosemite, Grand Canyon, and Temple Mountains were deemed ideal convalescent centers and recreational facilities for injured and furloughed servicemen during the war. During the early 1940’s this building went from a CCC headquarters to serving as a recreation center for visiting soldiers.

In the summer of 1943, a group of beavers constructed a dam blocking Eureka Creek that flowed in front of this building on its way to joining Silverado Creek on the valley floor, and a pond began to fill the open space between the front of the building and the creek, drowning some of the nearby trees. Rather than destroying the dam, the army began stocking the pond that appeared upstream from it for furloughed servicemen to fish in, and the "main" entrance of the refectory moved to the patio. The area still remains a popular fishing location, though today many of these non-native fish have displaced some of the species endemic to the Temple Mountains watershed, and National Park Service biologists are working on various projects to restore the ecosystem to a more natural state.

Once WWII was ended, this building became one of many historic structures within Temple Mountains National Park to be restored by the National Park Service, and it became a very popular stop along the main Silverado Valley drive through the park. In 1957 the refectory became part of the park’s official concessions contract, and ever since then, it has served as a very popular snack bar and picnic area for park visitors.

During busy summer months, this refectory can be so crowded that many tours bypass it altogether, but during spring and fall, it’s a great place for a quick lunch before heading further into the park, and in winter, the three fireplaces are still a welcome sight amid the snow-covered mountains and towering conifers. The pond behind the beaver dam is not stocked with game fish any longer; however park visitors are still welcome to cast their lines in the hopes of catching some of the non-native fish that still swim in its waters. Even more visitors stop here simply to enjoy the shade of the trees, perhaps have a refreshing drink, and splash in the clear waters of Eureka Creek.

Front and Floor Plan Images

I’d have liked to do something a little grander this round, but my responsibilities to REAL National Parks took precedence, so I unfortunately had very little time to work on this round’s entry. I’m still fairly pleased with how this turned out though, particularly the creek and beaver dam/pond. Buildings like this are a pretty standard feature of western National Parks too, since there’s always a need for little snack bars and places to get out of the weather for a little while in the middle of the day. Oftentimes they’re even buildings that have (or seem to have, but don’t actually, in some cases) an extensive history like I made out for the Hidden Creek Refectory here… anyone who’s been to places like Hermit’s Rest at Grand Canyon, or Scotty’s Castle in Death Valley will know what I mean!

I'm not sure how well you can see the clump of trees and bushes in the front corner that were part of the initial lot in any of my pictures, but I assure you, they're all still there! I tried to get a shot at the end of the "reference" photos section... hopefully you can see enough of what was already there before I went crazy adding more foliage to it!

It might seem as though I spend a lot of time on elaborate descriptions that might be better spent on the lot itself, but for something like this, the description actually helps me tremendously as I’m working. Real life buildings like I'm making always have histories behind them, and at least to me, those histories add a lot to the buildings themselves (I've even given RL ranger programs specifically on the history of a few buildings

) So far, all three rounds of this contest have had a lot more backstory in my head (or in random scribblings on my desk) than ever made it into the final text for my entry! What can I say? I’m a National Parks nerd!

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