Situated on the Cheaha Mountain summit, Cheaha State Park is Alabamas first state park. It opened in 1933 and covers nearly 3,000 acres. Many structures in the park are the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), a New Dealera program created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression that improved the quality of public, natural resources across the country. Cabins and A-frame structures built in the 1930s cemented Cheaha State Parks place as a hospitable nature destination among the Appalachian foothills. A new construction project now underway at the state park sets out to revamp a former hotel lodge, continuing this legacy. Chambless King Architects has joined the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR) to build the Cheaha State Park Lodge, a renovation of the former hotel and visitor center within Cheaha State Park in Delta, Alabama.With the original facilities of the lodge beginning to deteriorate, the project was set in motion in May 2022 when Alabama voters approved a bond issue that provided $80 million to significantly improve park facilities around the state. The former Cliffside Hotel was built in 1973 and will undergo selective demolition and renovation as the new project progresses.The project involves razing part of the existing hotel structure to build a new one outfitted with a cross-laminated timber (CLT) structure. Parts of the existing structure will house park administration offices. Other long-standing facilities will be renovated and converted: the Vista Event Center (formerly the restaurant) will become the new lobby space. It will house guest check-in services, staff office space, and a transitional bar for a daytime cafe and nighttime cocktail bar anchored with lounge seating against an existing floor-to-ceiling stone fireplace.The three residential towers contain 32 total units, and are connected by breezeways with perforated cladding. (Courtesy Chambless King Architects)The design will create a hotel facility that leverages its extraordinary location atop Mount Cheaha and generates the sense of a vibrant, lived-in mountaintop village, shared Jared Fulton, principal at Chambless King Architects and lead architect for the project. We hope the completed project will enrich the lives of overnight guests and visitors at Cheaha State Park, encouraging them to treasure the mountain for its beauty, ecological impact, and historical importance. Each of the 32 guest units planned for the Cheaha State Park Lodge will be oriented to take advantage of the state parks landscape and topography. The new design adds additional conference, recreational, circulation spaces, and a rooftop deck that will allow guests to be embedded into the surrounding environment without exiting the property.The 32 hotel units each have balcony access and vary in configuration. (Courtesy Chambless King Architects)The units with private balconies feature eight room configurations that include pet-friendly, ADA-accessible, and connecting rooms. Capitalizing on the sites topography, the buildings form features a horizontal stepping scheme. Alongside creative framing this strategy allows each unit to offer a unique vantage point of previously inaccessible views from the top of Mount Cheaha. Perforated aluminum cladding draws visual interest across the faces of the towers compromising the main lodge. The contemporary material contrasts the tried-and-true masonry and wood used elsewhere and inside.The building is a hybrid mass timber structure, featuring CLT floors with concrete topping slabs supported by CLT and wood stud-framed walls atop a concrete foundation. The project will use building materials sustainably sourced in Alabama, including exposed mass timber and stone. Upon completion, the Lodge, according to the architects, will be the largest CLT construction project in the state.A rooftop bar and lounge will offer a sweeping 360-degree viewing range. (Courtesy Chambless King Architects)The new hotel units will be connected to the existing Vista Event Center, which also features a pair of CLT roofs supported by CLT walls and glulam columns. Additionally, the existing pool will be converted into an observation deck and event pavilion that will serve as a trailhead for Pulpit Rock. Home to the states highest point at 2,407 feet, the Creek Nation called it Cheaha, meaning the high place. The new design finds ways to emphasize this vantage point throughout, including the addition of the rooftop bar. The existing large observation deck will remain, framing the vista and further connecting guests to nature. Native and drought-tolerant plants, trees, and wildflowers will further integrate the architecture into the natural habitat.Site preparation began in December 2024. The project is expected to be completed in 2026.