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Historic Paradise Camp Sign

Location of sign - Paradise Visitor Center, Mt. Rainier National Park

Photo taken -  July 2008

Text of sign:

Historic Paradise Camp

If you travelled to Paradise in the 1920s, this is what you would have seen, a place filled with visitors hiking, enjoying wildflowers,

relaxing, or staying overnight in a subalpine setting.

Lodging, information, souvenir, and food facilities were designed to blend with the natural landscape.  At this location, you would 

have experienced the Paradise Camp, where campers enjoyed staying in soft-sided tents, with the main building used for food

services, supplies, and even overnight accommodations in later years.

Today, the National Park Service is building a new visitor center, returning the area to resemble the historic landscape of the early

1900s.  The visitor center is being built over part of the former Paradise Camp, to reclaim the original historic layout of the area.

Paradise Uncovered

Prior to construction of the new visitor center, archeologists explored this site for the remains of Paradise Camp Lodge.  They 

uncovered remains of the original building's foundation and basement beneath the construction footprint you see before you.  

Evidence of the early history of those recreating and working at Paradise were found in smaller items such as ski pole baskets, 

pieces of glass, porcelain dinnerware and even a partially full whiskey bottle.

Graphics on the sign:  In addition to the text there is a photo of the former visitor center and an inset map showing the location

of the new visitor center.  The map overlay shows the layout of the area after construction compared with the 1920s map.  There

is also an artists rendering of the new visitor center, designed in the style of the historic buildings at Paradise, including a steep roof

to shed snow.

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