50 Fun Facts About Shenandoah National Park

Shenandoah National Park is in which U.S. state?

It runs along a mountain crest, with the Shenandoah Valley to the west and the Piedmont to the east.

Which mountain range does the park occupy?

The crest divides the Shenandoah River watershed on the west from the James and Rappahannock basins on the east.

What is the name of the road that runs the entire length of the park along the ridge?

At its southern end it hands off to a parkway that continues to the Smokies.

How long is the park's ridge-top road?

It runs from the northeast corner to near Waynesboro in the southwest, with mileposts numbered 0 to 105.

What is the strictly enforced speed limit on the park's ridge road?

Deer, bears and turkeys cross without warning, and cyclists and walkers share the two lanes.

How many overlooks line the park's ridge road?

Roughly half face the Shenandoah Valley and half the Piedmont.

What is the highest peak in the park, at just over 4,050 feet?

Its north face drops 2,500 feet into Timber Hollow, the biggest elevation change in the park.

Which 3,284-foot peak with a bare summit and famous rock scramble is the park's top hike?

The 9-mile circuit includes a 1.1-mile boulder scramble; unlike most peaks in the range its top is exposed rock.

Which billion-year-old rock, named for its peak, forms the park's most popular mountain?

It formed in the Grenville orogeny, making it among the oldest rock in the state.

Which president built a fishing retreat in the park area in 1929 and later donated it?

He wanted a spot within 100 miles of Washington, above 2,500 feet to dodge mosquitoes, and next to a good trout stream.

What was the nickname of the Hoovers' residential cabin at their mountain retreat?

The camp is seen as the forerunner of Camp David.

Which branch of the military built the Hoovers' retreat as a 'military exercise'?

Hoover paid for the land himself, $1,045 at $5 an acre, plus $22,719 for materials.

Which two streams meet inside the presidential retreat to form the Rapidan River?

Visitors today reach the camp by a 4.1-mile round-trip hike from Milam Gap or a ranger-led van trip.

In what year was Shenandoah National Park formally established?

Congress had authorised it back in 1926, on condition that no federal money be spent buying the land.

Which president formally opened the park on July 3, 1936?

He had also decided in 1933 to build a parkway to connect to the still-unfinished ridge road.

Which governor and later U.S. senator was the park's leading political champion?

The visitor centre at Big Meadows carries his name, and a series of trail shelters were his gift.

Roughly how many separate parcels of private land did the state have to acquire to create the park?

Congress insisted no federal funds be used, so the state raised money and used eminent domain.

Which discredited 1933 book depicted the park's mountain residents as poor, isolated 'hillbillies'?

A similarly discredited report by social worker Miriam Sizer was used to justify forced evictions and cabin burnings.

Roughly how many elderly residents on the 'Ickes list' were allowed to live out their lives inside the park?

The last, Annie Lee Bradley Shenk, was cared for by park staff from 1950 until she died in 1979 at 92.

Which resort owner, allowed to stay in the park, ran the Skyland Resort that reopened under a concessionaire?

Zerkel and Pollock had formed a park association to lobby the park selection committee.

Which federal work programme's crews built the ridge road and cleared the dead chestnut trees?

About 1,000 men and boys worked on the road, and the state's first camp was set up near Luray.

Which once-dominant tree had lost about half the park's forest to blight by the park's creation?

Oaks took over, only to be hammered by gypsy moths from the 1990s, which destroyed nearly a tenth of the oak groves.

What was the single facility opened at Lewis Mountain in 1939 for African American visitors?

It was markedly inferior; the Park Service ordered all concessions desegregated in December 1945 and the job was done by early 1950.

Which picnic ground was chosen as the park's first integrated site?

The concessionaire kept printing maps that showed Lewis Mountain as the only Black site.

How much of the Appalachian Trail lies within the park?

The park has over 500 miles of trail in all, and dogs are allowed on nearly all of them, including the AT.

Roughly what share of the park is designated wilderness?

That is 79,579 acres, and backcountry campers must hang bear bags or use canisters.

Which 70-foot cascade is reached by a short, steep 0.7-mile trail near the Byrd Visitor Center?

It is one of just ten trails in the park where dogs are banned.

Which town houses the park headquarters?

The park spans parts of eight counties, four on each side of the ridge.

Which town sits at the northern end of the park's road?

The southern end is near Waynesboro and I-64.

Which gap at the park's southern tip links the ridge road to the parkway heading south to the Smokies?

Thornton Gap (US 211) and Swift Run Gap (US 33) are the two mid-park entrances.

In what year did groundbreaking for the park's ridge road take place?

The first section opened in 1934, the road reached the northern end in 1936 and Jarman Gap in 1939.

The park's ridge road was the first NPS road east of the Mississippi to be named what?

It joined the National Register in 1997, became a National Scenic Byway in 2005 and a Landmark in 2008.

Which raptor was reintroduced to the park in the mid-1990s and had numerous nesting pairs by 2000?

The summit of the park's highest peak is one of the restoration sites.

Which fish draws fly fishermen to the park's streams?

Thirty-two fish species have been recorded, including blacknose dace and the bluehead chub.

Which large mammal is the park's headline wildlife sighting and the reason campers must hang their food?

Cougar sightings are reported now and then in remote areas but have never been substantiated.

Which other eastern park was authorised by Congress in the same May 1926 legislation as Shenandoah?

Acadia, in 1919, had been the first national park east of the Mississippi.

Which president signed the 1926 authorisation for the park?

Freshman congressman Henry D. Flood had first proposed an Appalachian park back in 1901.

Which two lodges offer rooms inside the park?

Big Meadows also holds the main visitor centre; the other one is at Dickey Ridge.

Which businessman sued over the land condemnations in 1934, lost, and reportedly never cashed his cheque?

One 85-year-old neighbour took the opposite view: 'I never believed in bein' ag'in the Government. I signed everythin' they asked me.'

Which teacher hired by Hoover to run a school near his camp thought reports of the mountain people's degradation were exaggerated?

Photographer Arthur Rothstein was later sent to document the conditions the book's authors claimed.

Which descendants' group lobbied the park for a fairer account of the displaced mountain families?

A 1990s archaeological survey of old homesteads led to questionable displays being removed and social-history tours added.

Columns of metamorphosed basalt from the Catoctin Formation can be seen at which park summit?

The Catoctin lavas erupted 570 to 550 million years ago as the ancient Iapetus Ocean opened.

Which mountain-building event folded the park's rocks between 325 and 260 million years ago?

The park sits on the western side of a regional anticlinorium at the edge of the Appalachian fold-and-thrust belt.

Roughly how many acres of backcountry and wilderness camping does the park offer?

Leave No Trace rules apply, including no campfires.

Which president supported the first Appalachian park bill in 1901, which nonetheless failed?

Every park until Acadia in 1919 followed the western pattern of carving parks from federal land.

During which months is the ridge road closed from dusk to dawn so rangers can control illegal hunting?

Fall is the busiest season thanks to leaf-peepers.

Which northern tree, typical of New England, grows on top of the park's highest mountain?

A stone observation platform sits on top, and Byrd's Nest No. 2 shelter is nearby.

The park's other visitor center, besides the Byrd Center at Big Meadows, is at which location?

The Harry F. Byrd Visitor Center at Big Meadows is also the starting point for ranger van trips to Hoover's Rapidan Camp.

Which infestation, beginning in the early 1990s, has destroyed almost ten percent of the park's oak groves?

Oaks had only become dominant after chestnut blight wiped out the American chestnut in the 1930s.

Who was the last 'grandmother resident' of the park, cared for by NPS staff from 1950 until she died in 1979?

She died at 92; most of the roughly 40 residents on the 'Ickes list' left quietly over the decades.