A historic building is listed in or eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. The National Historic Preservation Act of 1967 requires the National Park Service to nominate resources for listing. In order to be eligible for listing, a building must be significant to our history--in architecture, archaeology, engineering, or culture. Buildings must convey a sense of time and place. Generally, they must also be at least 50 years old. Park buildings are generally listed in the National Register because of their architectural significance or their association with ranching and tourism in the region. Most of the park's buildings are rustic in style. The first director of the NPS, Stephen Mather, advocated rustic design within parks as early as 1918 believing that buildings should blend with their natural surroundings. With wood shingle roofs, log framing, stone foundations, exposed rafter tails, and dark-stained siding, many buildings within Great Smoky Mountains National Park exemplify this design philosophy. This map service depicts only two types of historic resources while there may be many other historic resources managed by the Park Facilities Management Division as Historic, only the following are included in this map: Structures are a functional construction made for purposes other than creating shelter, such as a bridge. These resources would include features such as: fortifications, earthworks, roads, fences, canals, dams, engineering features, barns, outbuildings, arsenals, ships, manufacturing facilities, etc. These resources represent sites that do not function primarily as dwellings, however they may serve temporarily to house humans, although their primarily purpose is not a permanent shelter. The point may represent the location of a culvert, while a line may represent a fence or road, and a polygon may represent the circumscribed boundary of a manufacturing plant. Historic buildings most often function primarily as dwellings. The point may represent the center of the building, an entrance, a corner, etc., while the polygon may represent the building footprint.Historic buildings are a resource created principally to shelter any form of human activity, such as a house. These resources would include features such as: farmhouses, homesites, mansions, churches, museums (if the building is historic), courthouses, offices, prisons, train depots, etc. This map service depicts only those primary historic assets considered to be popular or critical historical buildings and structures. There are many more historic assets listed in other map services such as LCS and HRS