List of evaluated roadside properties
Reads Landing Overlook
SHPO number: WB-PEP-012
Reads Landing Overlook (also known as Lake Pepin Scenic Overlook) is located along Trunk Highway 61 in Wabasha County, about 1.5 miles northwest of the town of Reads Landing and 5 miles southeast of Lake City. Although the property spans both sides of the highway, the primary feature is a stone overlook with scenic views of Lake Pepin, one of the widest parts of the upper Mississippi River. Built between 1939 and 1940, the Overlook was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.
Significant historic elements and status
Evaluated under the Multiple Property Documentation Form entitled “Federal Relief Construction in Minnesota, 1933-1941,” the Reads Landing Overlook is significant as an excellent example of wayside rests built during the formative years of the Roadside Development Division of the Minnesota Department of Highways. The overlook, which incorporated early examples of informational markers, provided a safe space for travelers along the Great River Road to stop and take in the views from the south end of Lake Pepin. It also is an example of the partnership between the Highway Department and federal relief agencies during the Great Depression. The Highway Department built the wayside with labor provided by the boys and young men employed by the National Youth Administration, which served young people between the ages of 16 and 25.
In addition to its historical associations, Reads Landing Overlook is significant as an excellent example of the National Park Service Rustic Style. It is an important and unique example of the roadside development work of prominent Minnesota landscape architect A.R. Nichols due to the narrow site confined by bluffs, a steep drop-off to a railroad corridor below, and the busy highway bisecting the property. The narrow, angular 230-foot-long overlook wall exhibits the refined formalism that Nichols often brought to the more rugged Rustic Style, all in a way that harmonizes with the natural surroundings. Primarily built of limestone, the informational markers on either end of the overlook feature an unusual hard-surfaced, speckled brick. One marker includes a bronze medallion featuring a map of Minnesota with geographic information. The other provides a narrative description of the geographic features of Lake Pepin.
Features that contribute to and help convey the significance of the Reads Landing Overlook include: the overlook’s location on the south end of Lake Pepin; the overall spatial organization; the stone overlook wall with a lookout bay and two informational markers; and a stone retaining wall on the opposite side of Trunk Highway 61.