History of Shenandoah

Formation of the Shenandoah Region

The geologic story of Shenandoah National Park began 1 billion years ago. Molten magma, miles beneath the earth's surface, slowly solidified to become the "basement rock," or core, of what we know today as the Blue Ridge Mountains. For the next 500 million years, erosion and the uplifting of the earth's crust exposed the granitic basement rock. You can see the granite component of this rock in Old Rag Mountain and its surroundings.

Over millions of years, the uplift of the earth's crust formed deep cracks in the granite, which led to volcanic activity. For centuries, molten basaltic lava burst forth and poured over the land, forming a smooth, flat plain called the "Catoctin Formation." (The bedrock underlying Big Meadows was formed by at least 12 of these lava flows which, collectively, are approximately 1,800 feet thick.) The cooling and contraction of the lava produced a network of polygonal cracks, or columnar jointing. Please see pages 36—38 for more information.

When continental drift (the separation of the Americas from the continents of Europe and Africa) began, about 600 million years ago, it formed a broad, shallow depression from Alabama to Newfoundland. Then, for 300 million years, an ancient sea flooded the area that is now the Appalachian Mountains. Layers of water-borne sediments accumulated on the ocean floor, followed by limestone sediments composed of fossilized marine animals and shells. The weight and resultant heat caused by the sediments eventually compressed the two layers into metamorphic rock.

As a result of the eons-old shifting of the earth's tectonic (or crustal) plates, North America and Africa collided. This re-elevated and fractured the sea floor, causing the older, underlying layer of metamorphic rock to tilt upward and slide over the younger layer creating a towering mountain range that we call the Appalachians. The process occurred so slowly that even if geologists had been present, they would not have known that it was occurring. The new Appalachians probably looked more like the present Hima-layas than the rounded mountains we see today.

The powerful forces of wind, water and frost have worn away the Appalachians for nearly 250 million years. These forces continue to create and refine the spectacular scenery of Shenandoah National Park. Water runoff, as demonstrated by the "500-year" rainstorm of June 1995, has carved the mountains' distinctive alternating pattern of ridges and valleys. As you explore the park, look for signs of its geologic history and for how wind, water, frost and ice continue to sculpt the land.

Human History

The post-Ice Age peoples who knew these lands were hunters and gatherers. They were nomads who moved with the seasons picking nuts and berries and hunting caribou, elk and musk ox with spears and clubs. They had no permanent villages in the area that is now Shenandoah National Park, but stayed in encampments for short periods.

Among the many native tribes living in and around the park area were the Monacans and the Manahoacs, who lived in the region just east of the Blue Ridge Mountains. These were the tribes that explorer John Lederer, a German physician and scholar, encountered on his journey to the Blue Ridge Mountains in 1669. He believed them to be a "peaceful and intelligent people who worshiped one god and followed a calendar."

Around 1650, the tribes began suffering from new diseases, including smallpox, measles and tuberculosis, introduced by French and Dutch fur traders and early Tidewater pioneers. It is estimated that 2,000 Monacans and Manahoacs lived in the region, but by 1730 most of them had died or moved away.

It is possible that Lederer was not the first European explorer to visit the Blue Ridge Mountains. Captain John Smith explored the Rappahannock River in 1608 and may have reached what is now Shenandoah National Park. But Lederer was the first to leave a written account of his journey. With the help of native guides, Lederer reached the crest of the mountains on March 18, 1669 and then spent six days hiking through the snow, "hoping to find some passage through the Mountains." He described steep slopes, thick brambles and a forest teeming with wild game.

In 1716, Governor Alexander Spotswood led a party of 63 men with horses, dogs, food, liquor and a large assortment of supplies from Germanna, (near present-day Fredericksburg, Virginia), across the mountains to the Shenandoah River and back. Spotswood was eager to encourage settlement in the area before the French arrived and the group began settlements of their own. He initiated a generous land grant program that exempted settlers from taxes and attracted thousands into the area. Germans from Pennsylvania, as well as the English and Scotch-Irish from Virginia's Tidewater region, began settling in the Shenandoah Valley.

The settlers moved into a forest rich with chestnut trees and wild game. By 1790, there were about 67,000 people in the area, most of whom lived in the lower Shenandoah Valley. By 1800, many small industries such as tanneries and cider presses, had been developed. Mills, fueled by the resources of the area's mountains, provided work and markets for goods. However, absentee landlords and corporations that had been formed to exploit mineral deposits and timber impacted the natural resources; bison disappeared, and deer, elk and turkey became rare.

The demands on the land began to take their toll. During the last part of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, the fortunes of the people of the Blue Ridge steadily declined.

The chestnut blight arrived in 1905, carried into the U.S. by imported Chinese chestnut trees. With the death of the chestnut in much of the east, a prime source of income rapidly vanished. About half the people had moved off the ridge by 1925, just as plans were begun for establishing a national park. Severe drought and a widespread epidemic of hog cholera furthered the economic plight of a rural population moving into the Great Depression.

National Park Status

In 1926, the U.S. Congress authorized the establishment of Shenandoah National Park on the condition that no federal dollars be used to purchase land. In 1927, the Commonwealth of Virginia passed a blanket condemnation act, requiring owners to sell their land. During the next eight years, a combination of private donations and state monies were used to purchase land. In December 1935, Virginia gave the deeds to the federal government and Shenandoah National Park was established.

While many people throughout the state and country believed in the need for a national park in the southern Appalachians, many local landowners and tenants did not. One absentee land-owner challenged Virginia's condemnation act all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and lost. On July 3, 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt came to Shenandoah National Park to dedicate it to "the recreation and re-creation," both of which can be found here.

The Civilian Conservation Corps

Long before Shenandoah's dedication, the park was being created by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), one of Roosevelt's public works programs created within months of his taking office. In 1933, the first two CCC camps located in national parks were established at Skyland and Big Meadows. Congress took advantage of the future park's proximity to Washington, D.C., and used it as a demonstration of Roosevelt's Depression cures. In August 1933, the president took a highly publicized whirlwind tour through Shenandoah's camps to bolster public confidence in his "New Deal."

Between 1933 and 1942, 10 CCC camps were established within, or on leased land, adjacent to Shenandoah. At any one time, more than 1,000 boys and young men lived in these camps that were supervised by the Army. They worked on projects directed by the National Park Service and the Bureau of Public Roads. The earliest CCC activities involved building trails, fire roads and towers, log comfort stations, construction projects associated with the Skyline Drive and park picnic grounds.

By the end of 1934, a sawmill, a shingle mill, a blacksmith shop and a sign shop were built to produce various materials needed to construct park buildings. Nurseries were set up at Front Royal and Big Meadows to grow the trees and shrubs that would ultimately be used to revegetate areas disturbed by construction.

After the official establishment of the park on December 26, 1935, CCC activities were expanded to include the entire acreage. Houses and outbuildings of former residents were dismantled or burned, fences were removed, gardens and orchards were obliterated, and work areas were replanted, seeded or sodded. Many known 20th-century homesites in Shenandoah are invisible today due to the CCC's mandate to return the land to its "natural state."

The Skyline Drive

The construction of the Skyline Drive began before the park was born, supported as a drought relief measure by President Herbert Hoover, who had a fishing camp in the area. On July 18, 1931, construction began. The road was first built by local farmers who, due to crop failures, needed the work. Later, it was undertaken by contract. In 1934, the central section of the Skyline Drive opened to long lines of eager and curious visitors.

The road was essentially finished on August 29, 1939, during the Roosevelt administration. Most of the picnic areas, comfort stations, overlooks and landscaping were built by the CCC. The cost of this important roadway was approximately $5 million.

Shenandoah Today

In the intervening decades, the forest grew and wildlife began to proliferate. After more than 10,000 years of human use, Shenandoah has become one of the most beautiful and popular natural areas in the national park system. In September 1997, the park celebrated the inclusion of the Skyline Drive Historic District in the National Register of Historic Places. More than 400 buildings, structures and features along the Skyline Drive are listed in the Register as representative of the "best of the 1930s." With your assistance, the NPS can continue to protect and preserve the cultural and natural resources of the park for generations.