Giant Forest Village-Camp Kaweah Historic District, historic district in California, United States
The Giant Forest Village-Camp Kaweah Historic District is a collection of buildings in Sequoia National Park, California, constructed with rustic wood structures and natural materials. It includes residential cabins, a museum building, staff residences, and a comfort station, all built in simple, practical forms of wood and stone.
Camp Kaweah began in 1926 as a frame tent camp and opened 41 permanent wood-frame cabins in 1927, laid out by Park Service landscape architect Merel S. Sager; more cabins followed from 1935. Giant Forest Village grew beside it as a concession area, with Gilbert Stanley Underwood's firm designing the Giant Forest Market (1928) and Eddy Photographic Studio (1929). The district was listed on the National Register on 22 May 1978, and in 1999 the Park Service removed or demolished many cabins to restore the sequoia grove.
The district preserves the layout of a 1920s concession camp: 41 wood-frame cabins with low shingled roofs, most with outdoor cooking porches covered by canvas flies, arranged by landscape architect Merel S. Sager. The Giant Forest Market, designed by Gilbert Stanley Underwood in 1928, used squared timbers to economize and now serves as the Giant Forest Museum.
The district lies along the Generals Highway in the Giant Forest, and a shuttle bus links the Giant Forest Museum with the grove. Parking lots occupy the ground where upper and lower Camp Kaweah stood before demolition. Only four contributing properties remain: the Beetle Rock Center, the Giant Forest Museum, the Giant Forest Ranger Residence and the Giant Forest Village Comfort Station.
Camp Kaweah's permanent camp opened in 1927 with 41 wood-frame cabins and an office among firs and pines, with a single giant sequoia. The lower camp, begun in 1935, brought the total to about 140 units, but it lay outside the historic district and was demolished for parking lots.
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