Inspiration Point Wayside Rest is a

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...

wayside rest A rest area is a public facility located next to a large thoroughfare such as a motorway, expressway, or highway, at which drivers and passengers can rest, eat, or refuel without exiting onto secondary roads. Other names include motorway servi ...

located along

Minnesota State Highway 16 Minnesota State Highway 16 (MN 16) is a two-lane highway in southeast Minnesota, which runs from its interchange with Interstate Highway 90 in Dexter and continues east to its eastern terminus at the Wisconsin state line concurrent with U.S. H ...

southwest of Lanesboro, Fillmore County, Minnesota. Minnesotan architect

Arthur R. Nichols Arthur R. Nichols was a landscape architect who practiced in New York City and Minnesota in a long career from 1902 through 1960. He was a very productive landscape architect who was instrumental in bringing the field of landscape architecture to M ...

designed the wayside and it was built between 1934 and 1937 by the

Minnesota Department of Transportation The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT, ) oversees transportation by all modes including land, water, air, rail, walking and bicycling in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The cabinet-level agency is responsible for maintaining the state' ...

(MnDOT) and the Civilian Conservation Corps. In 2015, Inspiration Point Wayside Rest was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a well-preserved example of 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 buildings ...

architectural style with good historic integrity, and the only surviving Minnesota wayside to have been built by a

CCC CCC may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canada's Capital Cappies, the Critics and Awards Program in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada * ''Capcom Classics Collection'', a 2005 compilation of arcade games for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox * CCC, the pro ...

soil erosion Soil erosion is the denudation or wearing away of the upper layer of soil. It is a form of soil degradation. This natural process is caused by the dynamic activity of erosive agents, that is, water, ice (glaciers), snow, air (wind), plants, and ...

control camp. Major renovation work was undertaken that same year to restore degrading masonry and clear invasive buckthorn that had blocked several of the wayside's viewpoints.

History and design

The Inspiration Point Wayside Rest was one of thousands of infrastructure projects completed during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

by New Deal Agencies. President

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

created the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) through Executive Order 6106-A in April 1933, and the CCC had over 60 camps in Minnesota by the following August. Fourteen more were operated in coordination with the Minnesota Conservation Department (now the

Minnesota DNR The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, or Minnesota DNR, is the agency of the U.S. state of Minnesota charged with conserving and managing the state's natural resources. The agency maintains areas such as state parks, state forests, recr ...

) to address drought and

erosion control Erosion control is the practice of preventing or controlling wind or water erosion in agriculture, land development, coastal areas, river banks and construction. Effective erosion controls handle surface runoff and are important techniques in ...

in southeast Minnesota. This included Camp SCS-7 / PE-91 / 751 in Lanesboro, which was responsible for the construction of Inspiration Point Wayside Rest in 1934 according to the Fillmore County Historical Society. Gemini Research claims the property was instead built by workers paid by the Federal/State Emergency Relief Administration (FERA/SERA). Inspiration Point was one of the first rest areas

designed under commission of the

Minnesota Highway Department The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT, ) oversees transportation by all modes including land, water, air, rail, walking and bicycling in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The cabinet-level agency is responsible for maintaining the state ...

. Nichols later designed many similar rest areas throughout the 1930s and 1940s in Minnesota, such as

Preston Overlook Preston Overlook is a historic scenic overlook in Preston, Minnesota, United States, North America. History In 1937–38, the overlook was built by the Minnesota Department of Highways under the program of Federal Relief Construction in Minnesota ...

, Kenney Lake Overlook, Orr Roadside Parking Area, and

Reads Landing Overlook The Reads Landing Overlook is a scenic overlook on U.S. Route 61 in Pepin Township, Minnesota, United States. It was built from 1939 to 1940 as a New Deal project to provide motorists with a scenic view of Lake Pepin. It was designed by lands ...

, but Inspiration Point is unique in the dry stone masonry techniques found in most of its walls. Dry stone masonry uses no mortar, instead interlacing stones in tight patterns that are durable but can accommodate drainage and ice accumulation. The wayside rest is located atop Duschee Hill, one of the largest hills in the region, and its surrounding terrain consists of pronounced hills and ravines. Predominant local land uses include natural oak and hardwood forests – which were incorporated into the site's original design – as well as tilled fields and pastureland.

Restoration efforts

In the early 2010s, MnDOT conducted condition assessments and background research on Inspiration Point in preparation for a National Register of Historic Places listing application. The site was successfully designated on the NRHP list on November 16, 2015, but the wayside's condition deteriorated.

Buckthorn ''Rhamnus'' is a genus of about 110 accepted species of shrubs or small trees, commonly known as buckthorns, in the family Rhamnaceae. Its species range from tall (rarely to ) and are native mainly in east Asia and North America, but found thr ...

and other

invasive vegetation An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...

near the wayside blocked intended overlooks of the Root River Valley below, several of the site's signature walls had significant cracks, and some benches were structurally undermined. MnDOT estimated in 2013 that it would cost $1,262,615 (USD) to fully restore the wayside and protect it from future damage. Restoration work, led by the contractor firm Environmental Associates, was carried out in 2015 and ultimately cost approximately $1.18 million (USD). The renovation focused mostly on restoring the masonry of the stone walls and on clearing the buckthorn that had obscured the Point's views of the surrounding valley.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota National Register of Historic Places in Fillmore County, Minnesota Buildings and structures in Fillmore County, Minnesota Transportation on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota Parks on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Submissions New Deal in Minnesota National Park Service rustic in Minnesota Arthur R. Nichols works Rest areas in the United States Scenic viewpoints in the United States Roadside parks U.S. Route 16