The Altair Campground Community Kitchen, also known as Altaire Campground Community Kitchen, was built in

Olympic National Park Olympic National Park is a national park of the United States located in Washington, on the Olympic Peninsula. The park has four regions: the Pacific coastline, alpine areas, the west-side temperate rainforest, and the forests of the drier e ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

, United States, to serve the Altair Campground. It is an open rectangular shelter built in 1935 by the

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government unemployment, work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was ...

personnel from the Elwha River Camp in the

National Park Service Rustic National Park Service rustic – sometimes colloquially called Parkitecture – is a style of architecture that developed in the early and middle 20th century in the United States National Park Service (NPS) through its efforts to create building ...

style. Located near the

Elwha River The Elwha River is a river on the Olympic Peninsula in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. From its source at Elwha snowfinger in the Olympic Mountains, it flows generally north to the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Most of the river's co ...

, the peeled log structure is capped with a cedar shake roof, enclosing a cooking fireplace and chimney. It measures about by , with a stone cooking fireplace in the middle, rising through the roof. The lower portions of the log columns have been replaced with concrete piers due to deterioration, and the original peeled log railings have disappeared. The Altair and Elwha Campground Community Kitchens are the only such structures remaining in Olympic National Park. The Altair campground was named after the USS ''Altair'', whose crew regularly used the site in the 1920s and 1930s. The kitchen structure was listed on

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on July 13, 2007. By 2014 the

Elwha Dam The Elwha Dam was a 108-ft (33 m) high dam located in the United States, in the state of Washington, on the Elwha River approximately upstream from the mouth of the river on the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The Elwha River Ecosystem and Fisheries ...

and all other dams along the

were removed. When the river flooded in November 2015, both Altair and Elwha Campgrounds were severely damaged by water.

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

has no plans to restore the two campgrounds. As of May 2023, rangers at Olympic National Park confirmed the Altair Kitchen was under about 9 feet of sediment, and the Elwha Kitchen is completely covered in sediment from the Elwha River.

References

Park buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington (state) Government buildings completed in 1935 Buildings and structures in Clallam County, Washington National Register of Historic Places in Olympic National Park National Park Service rustic in Washington (state) Civilian Conservation Corps in Washington (state) National Register of Historic Places in Clallam County, Washington Campgrounds in Washington (state) 1935 establishments in Washington (state) {{Washington-struct-stub

See also

References