Shenandoah National Park

3655 U.S. Highway 211 East

Luray, VA 22835
nps.gov/shen/

BACKGROUNDER
Contact:
Shenandoah National Park
(540) 999-3500
https://www.nps.gov/shen/

The history of Shenandoah National Park

Shenandoah National Park is located 75 miles away from Washington, D.C. in the Blue
Ridge Mountains of Virginia. The park is about 200,000 acres and has over 500 miles in
trials. Shenandoah houses 10,000 of living creatures and humans have been present in
Shenandoah’s territory before the 1700s.

Native Americans were the first humans to take advantage of the park’s resources before
the Europeans arrived in the 1700s. Europeans explored Shenandoah’s surroundings in
1750, building communities and growing food. By the 1800s, Shenandoah was home of a
growing an urban society that had the need for recreational spaces.

The first establishments of national parks in the west led to the intent of establishing
Shenandoah as a national park in the east.

In 1924 an unpaid group approved by Congress, the Southern Appalachian National Park
Committee, invited people to suggest areas that could potentially become parks. The
creation and action of the committee initiated the official establishment of Shenandoah
because it caught the attention George Freeman Pollock, owner of the current Skyland
Resort. Pollock submitted the Blue Ridge Mountains to the committee for consideration.
And after visiting the area, the committee acknowledged its potential for tourism
purposes. A year later, Virginia donated 327,000 acres in fee (almost $2,500,000) that
supported the establishment of the park.

Former President Herbert Hoover sponsored the construction of the Skyline Drive
connecting the Rapidan River, Big Meadows, Skyland and Thornton Gap from 1931 to
1933. Hoover visited the park frequently with his wife and enjoyed fishing at the Rapidan
River. Civilian Conservation Corps camps generated jobs to build trails, picnic areas,
overlooks and other amenities in 1933.

Shenandoah National Park was officially established in 1935, after an extensive series of
bills, legislations, organizations, signatures and money. The park’s official establishment
took three decades.

###