History of Shenandoah National Park
Blog post by GWHVA Intern Eva Heller, 2023
Shenandoah National Park is one of the most popular national parks in the country. Home to approximately 200,000 acres of biodiverse habitat as well as the famous Skyline Drive, the park has served as a nature preserve and has provided recreational opportunities for people since it was created in 1926. Although we have known this area of the Blue Ridge mountains as an important landmark ever since, there are also indigenous histories critical to the area.
Up until European settlers came in the early eighteenth century, Siouan- and Iroquoian-speaking Native Americans populated the landscape. The land that is now considered Shenandoah National Park was first inhabited by indigenous peoples as early as 12,000 years ago. Indigenous communities would seasonally visit the area to hunt and gather food and resources, and this frequent migration through the Shenandoah Valley developed the trail network known as The Great Warrior Path. Today, there are archaeological sites that uncover the remnants of the park’s indigenous predecessors.
Early European settlement took place in the early 1700s, following Virginia Governor Alexander Spotswood promoting expansion into the valley region. German and Scots-Irish families soon populated the area, bringing farming, lumbering, and eventually the construction of the Blue Ridge Railroad. The settlers who inhabited the Blue Ridge were mainly subsistence farmers who hunted, crafted, and produced moonshine. By the late nineteenth century, a large amount of the original forest had been cut down, leaving lots of open land and scrub forest.
The National Park Service (NPS) began seeking out an area for a park in 1924 with the goal of providing better outdoor access for people living on the east coast. When the NPS landed on an area in the southern Appalachian mountains, local businessmen jumped on the opportunity to develop the area’s commercial opportunities, and Skyline Drive was created to increase support for the establishment of the park. Harry Byrd, Virginia’s governor at the time, was heavily involved in the establishment of the park, and he established the Virginia Conservation and Development Commission in 1926 to take over the management of funds collected for the park.
As plans to complete the park came to a close, the National Park Service was dealing with heavy pushback from the 400–500 families that had no desire to move from their homes located inside the boundaries of the park. Between 1935 and 1937, the federal government forced these families to leave by purchasing 7000 acres of land bordering the park and relocating residents onto these neighboring properties. By the spring of 1938, 42 elderly residents had been given life estates, 175 families had been relocated to resettlement communities, several families had been physically evicted and their houses burned, and the rest left the area on their own. After the land started to be cleared, President Franklin Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps established six camps and constructed roads and landscaped across the area, and on July 3rd, 1936, Roosevelt officially dedicated the park.
Today Shenandoah National Park remains one of the most visited parks in the nation, and its forests consist mainly of oaks and hickories less than one hundred years old. Just a short trip from Washington, D.C., the park is laden with history, waterfalls, vistas, and wildlife. The history of the area has allowed the park to become what it is today, so next time you visit, keep in mind that the park has not always been the quiet, protected land that it is today.
Photo: https://www.nps.gov/shen/learn/photosmultimedia/then-and-now.htm
