Lodge: An Indoorsy Tour of America’s National Parks

By Max Humphrey, Kathryn O’Shea-Evans, David Tsay and Rob Schanz

"LODGE is a beautiful reminder to go somewhere rustic with spotty wifi once in a while.”—Barbara Corcoran, Shark on ABC's Shark Tank, Business Unusual Podcast Host, and Founder of The Corcoran Group

2024 Reading the West Awards, Longlist, Nonfiction (MPIBA)

Striking photos and personal, experiential stories lure park rookies and obsessives alike to the rustic charm of America’s National Park lodges.

“The lodges shown in these pages have lessons for everyone, from professional interior designers to someone who may want to bring some of the outdoors inside.”—Mountain Living

Max Humphrey shines a light on 10 rustic National Park lodges in all their airy, timeworn splendor. No historic photos here; the images of the architecture and interiors are as they look today, highlighting these storied places in a fresh, alluring way. Sure, the lobbies are the main stage, but Humphrey touches on grand dining rooms, guest rooms, and rustic canteens alike. He writes about the buildings themselves in terms of the historical goings-on at the time, why they were built, and the players involved, highlighting notable architectural moments and period-specific furnishings. A smattering of pop culture history adds extra bursts of levity throughout.

Lodges and national parks included:

• The Ahwahnee, Yosemite National Park, California
• Crater Lake Lodge, Crater Lake National Park, Oregon
• Curry Village, Yosemite National Park, California
• El Tovar, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
• Lake McDonald lodge, Glacier National Park, Montana
• Lake Quinault Lodge, Olympic National Park, Washington
• The Oasis, Death Valley NP, California
• Old Faithful Inn, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
• Paradise Inn, Mount Rainier National Park, Washington
• Zion Lodge, Zion National Park, Utah

More Accolades

A Best Coffee Table Book to Add to Your Collection, Elle Décor

Interviewed in The New York Times, National Geographic, and Publishers Weekly

“A heartfelt homage to these hotels that were built in the late 1800s and early 1900s, a golden era of parkitectural experimentation not to be repeated.”—Sunset Magazine

“A witty, savvy, and welcoming national parts pictorial, Lodge spotlights the beautiful harmony between dwellings and natural wonders.”—Foreword Reviews

“A fascinating look at their stories infused with hints of pop-culture history and a bit of wit throughout.”—Boston Magazine

“An intimate look into the lodges found in America's national parks.”—Veranda

“No historic photos here; the images of the architecture and interiors are as they look today, highlighting these storied places in a fresh, alluring way, with a smattering of pop culture history throughout.”—House Beautiful

“Not everyone has a river-stone hearth, wrought-iron ring chandelier or exposed beam ceiling, but cozy comes in all forms, as seen in Max Humphrey’s new book.”—The Oregonian

“Interior designer Max Humphrey brings the great outdoors in with his new coffee table book.”—Luxe Interiors + Design

“What a cool idea to go into these beautiful old lodges and get inspiration from how they look in 2022.”—Style by Emily Henderson

“A love letter to the history and design of our country’s beloved National Parks outposts.”—Domino

“Yosemite’s Ahwahnee and the Crater Lake Lodge are among the 10 gorgeous National Park Service lodges in this beautiful coffee table book by interior designer Max Humphrey.”—The Mercury News

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gibbs Smith
• Release date: Apr 4, 2023
• ISBN: 9781423661351

Max Humphrey

Max Humphrey has a design firm in Portland, Oregon. He has been featured in Architectural Digest, Real Simple, This Old House, The Wall Street Journal, and as one of Apartment Therapy’s design change-makers. Max was featured as a “Next Wave” designer in House Beautiful and named one of Country Living’s 100 Most Creative People.

Book preview

9781423661344.jpgPhoto of title page.Photo of forest.

Photograph by David Tsay © 2023.

Contents

Foreword

Introduction

The Ahwahnee

Yosemite National Park, California

Crater Lake Lodge

Crater Lake National Park, Oregon

Curry Village

Yosemite National Park, California

El Tovar Hotel

Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

Lake Mcdonald Lodge

Glacier National Park, Montana

Lake Quinault Lodge

Olympic National Park, Washington

Inn at Death Valley

Death Valley National Park, California

Old Faithful Inn

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Paradise Inn

Mount Rainier National Park, Washington

Zion Lodge

Zion National Park, Utah

Acknowledgments

The Authors

Foreword

by Ken Burns

The architects tasked with designing the first National Park lodges had a problem. What structural style could accommodate road-weary travelers without marring the exultant beauty of the park itself? Slapdash tents wouldn’t do in these lands of wild weather and wilder residents, like the free-range grizzlies and mountain lions who then roamed largely unfettered across the landscape in Yellowstone and Yosemite. Plus, even in the early twentieth century, park rangers were expecting a crowd. America would come to see this.

The answer came in what National Park staffers refer to as Parkitecture: a look that summons the cozy aesthetic of the alpine chalet with elements of each region’s local grandeur, like native boulders and timber. If the National Parks were America’s Best Idea, the lodges made it an idea worth exploring to the sometimes backcountry-averse travelers who occasionally arrived on a park’s buggy doorstep. After a day afield, little says Welcome, put up your boots and stay awhile as much as riverstone fireplaces and soaring ceilings.

In Lodge you’ll find ten of America’s most beloved National Park lodges captured in all their allure for the next generation. There’s Glacier’s Lake McDonald Lodge, which edges a 472-foot-deep glacial lake and has Blackfoot words and phrases etched into the lobby’s concrete floors. And Paradise Inn, with its parchment paper lanterns hand-painted with the plants that grow on adjacent Mt. Rainier.

Of course, most people don’t travel all the way to the National Parks solely to stay at the lodges. And yet walking into one of these often century-old lobbies after years away—or even for the first time—can feel like coming home. Opening this book can be a bit like that, even if you’re thumbing through it on a coffee table. Just add a whiff of woodsmoke and imagine that your next adventure is just around the bend.

Introduction

by Max Humphrey

I could gut a trout before I learned to read. I grew up in New England. I was outdoorsy. Days were spent in the woods behind my house building tree forts with the neighborhood kids until someone’s mom yelled that it was dinnertime. We swam in ponds. We got bug bites. We popped wheelies. That all changed in the winter of 1986 when my parents surprised my brother and me with a Nintendo. I remember setting it up at my grandparents’ apartment above their general store in Craftsbury, Vermont, and thinking I’m never going outside again.

That feeling faded before the snow melted, but things were different. For every day I spent outside, I’d spend another inside. One day would be playing catch with my brother, the next would be playing Super Mario Brothers. I needed both. And I’m not alone. I’m sure a lot of you are indoorsy-outdoorsy too. We look forward to the after-hike fireside chats as much as the hikes themselves.

In my day job as an interior designer, I'm fueled by nostalgia. The homes I design for clients