Little Beaver Dam

From West Virginia (WV) Cyclopedia

The dam at Little Beaver State Park locally escapes notice as a historic site, but, in fact, it's a national historic site, a relic of the Great Depression and President Franklin Roosevelt's effort to employ out-of-work laborers on public development projects. In this case, the project was a recreation area to be located around a small lake on Little Beaver Creek, about eight air-miles east of Beckley, WV.

The dam was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and Works Progress Administration (WPA) between 1938 and 1942. Sandstone was quarried from the hillside above the dam and carried by tram to the construction site. Masons cut, fitted, and mortared the stone into a six-foot-wide, 400-foot-long, 29-foot-deep barrier. Corps masons also crafted a monument dedicated to the project and inscribed it with the legend: "S.C. CODA/ PROJ. SUPER/ JOHN KONRAD/ U.S. ENGINEER."

In her survey of the site, state historian Katherine Jourdan notes that the WPA had not dissuaded swimming at the developing lake, and a death and a near-drowning had occurred at the time. In late 1942, the WPA released the project to the Raleigh County Park Board, which added facilities over the next several decades, notably developing a lakeside pavilion that became an important social center for young adults.

In 1971 the lake area became Little Beaver State Park, though the transfer to state ownership did not include a portion of the park where a 4-H Camp was located in 1953. Thankfully, the dam and monument have been unaltered, and so could be added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.

Little Beaver Dam is easily accessible. From Interstate 64, follow Crow Road (CR 9) south approximately 1.5 miles into Little Beaver State Park. The dam is located along the road on the left.