Skyline Drive & Shenandoah National Park

Parts of that whole region have only barely started to recover from Hurricane Helene, which weakened to a tropical storm as it moved over Georgia, but it still produced truly devastating destruction in the southern Appalachian Mountains. But while I was there, I talked to a lot of people who worked in hotels and restaurants and shops and galleries around Asheville, and they were all very anxious for tourism to get

back toward its normal levels there. One of the things that I did on this trip was I drove the small stretch of the Blue Ridge Parkway that is open near Asheville. At this point, I stopped at the Folk Arts Center, which is at one end of that open section, and there was a historical display outside about construction of the Blue Ridge Parkway that made me think, you know,

that might be a really good episode. The Blue Ridge Parkway was inspired by another kind of similar scenic drive, which is Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park, which the Blue Ridge Parkway also connects to. So my plan was to have an episode where we talked a little bit about Skyline Drive and then focused the rest of the time on the Blue Ridge Parkway. But during my whole note taking process, Skyline Drive and Shenandoah National Park evolved

into their own entire episode. So that's today's episode. If you've been like Tracy, why are you talking about the Blue Ridge Parkway, that one's actually gonna be on Wednesday. This isn't really a two parter. It's more like two episodes that have some interconnectedness. So if you're one of the folks who likes to listen to the two parters together, I think in this case you don't really need to wait. Like there are some points where these two stories touch

each other. But this isn't exactly a two part episode. So we'll start with a little background on the national parks. The first national park in the United States was created under the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act, which President Ulysses S. Grant signed into law in eighteen seventy two. This Act quote set apart a certain tract of land lying near the headwaters of the Yellowstone River as a public park.

Under this law, this tract of land was quote hereby reserved and withdrawn from settlement, occupancy, or sale under the Laws of the United States, and dedicated and set apart as a public park or pleasuring ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people, and all persons who shall locate or settle upon, or occupy the same or any part thereof, except as hereinafter provided, shall be considered trespassers and removed therefrom This law placed Yellowstone under the control

of the Secretary of the Interior, who was directed to create rules and regulations to quote provide for the preservation from injury or spoliation of all timber, mineral deposits, natural curiosities, or wonders within said park, and their retention in their natural condition. Any structures built on the designated land were to be for the accommodation of visitors. Fish and game were to be protected from quote wanton destruction and from

their capture or destruction. For the purposes of profit. Under this law, anyone settling on or occupying land in Yellowstone would be considered a trespasser and removed. This Act was ostensibly about conserving and preserving Yellowstone and its natural wonders, but it really didn't make any provisions or exceptions for the Indigenous peoples who had been living on, using, and

acting as stewards of this land since time immemorial. While some tribes and nations were still supposed to have fishing or hunting rights by treaty, later legislation made that explicitly illegal. In other words, federal policy and the whole mindset around the National Parks framed Yellowstone as an untouched wilderness rather than as a place where people had been living, hunting, gathering,

and harvesting for thousands of years. The fish, game and plants in the park had been a vital source of food for indigenous peoples, and those protected mineral deposits included sources of obsidian that Indigenous people had been using to make tools and projectile points. Yellowstone also holds a deep spiritual significance for a number of Indigenous nations, and it's

considered sacred. The federal government forcibly removed Indigenous peoples who had been living on or using the land in Yellowstone, including the Tukadika, to reservations outside the bounds of the park, and publicly presented a fiction that Yellowstone had always been uninhabited and unused. This included a pretty insulting, made up story about how Indigenous people didn't come to Yellowstone because they were afraid of the geysers. I do want to

say I love the national parks. I'm glad that we have them. There are complicated things that I do not like about their history. We'll talk about that a bit more in a second. After the creation of Yellowstone, other national parks followed that included Yosemite National Park in eighteen ninety. We talked about Yosemite in a two parter that ran on August eighth and ten tenth of twenty sixteen. And through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the creation of

these parks generally followed a really similar pattern. They were formed from federal land under legislation that framed it as being conserved and protected for the people, but the United States had obtained this land through warfare, genocide, and exploitive treaties with the indigenous peoples, and then the government forcibly removed those people from the land while maintaining this fiction that the park was protecting something that was pristine and

untouched by humanity. So we can't really cover the entire history of indigenous people's relationships to these parks in one episode, but more than a century would pass before the federal government started to take an approach that was more cooperative

and collaborative than when these parks were established. It's also not really clear at this point how the Trump administration will be approaching co stewardship agreements that were signed under the Biden Yeah, I think a lot of those agreements were a step in addressing some of the historical wrongs of these parks. In nineteen sixteen, the National Park Service Act, also known as the Organic Act, created the National Park Service.

Like the first National Parks, the National Park Service was established under the Department of the Interior, and the words of this Act quote, the Service thus established shall promote and regulate the use of the federal areas known as National parks, monuments, and reservations, hereinafter specified by such means and measures as conformed to the fundamental purposes of the said parks, monuments, and reservations, which purpose is to conserve

the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wildlife therein, and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will

leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations. Most of the US population lived in the eastern half of the country, but with the exception of Mackinaw National Park, which had been on Mackinaw Island in Lake Huron from eighteen seventy five to eighteen ninety five, there were no national parks east of the Mississippi River when the National Park Service was founded. That changed with the creation of Acadian National Park, originally known as Lafayette National Park in

nineteen nineteen. Acadia is in Maine, so it was closer to people in the eastern US than the parks in the west were, but it still really wasn't convenient to major cities in the east, so Stephen T. Mather, first Director of the National Park Service, advocated for the creation of a park that was closer to some of the

major eastern cities. He convinced Secretary of the Interior, Hubert work to appoint a committee to find a place for a park, specifically in the Southern Appalachian Mountains, ideally within an easy drive of Washington, d c. To that end, the Southern Appalachian National Park Committee was established in nineteen twenty four. Please don't come at me for how I

said Appalachian. That same year, Congress passed legislation to authorize and fund the construction and reconstruction of roads, trails, and bridges in the National Parks, which was becoming more of a necessity as more people had access to cars. At this point, the good Roads movement was well under way, having started in the late nineteenth century after the development of practical and affordable bicycles. We talked about this more in our episode on Kitty Knox and the Bike Boom

that came out on January ninth, twenty twenty three. By the nineteen twenties, the good Roads movement's focus had shifted more to the needs of cars and motorists rather than bicycles and cyclists. In nineteen twenty four, when this law was passed, the US had a population of about one hundred and fourteen million people, and there were about sixteen million cars on the road. This was also tied to

the Sea America First Movement. That slogan was coined in the early twentieth century, encouraging people to travel along these newly established roads and the railroads, including going to the national parks to travel and vacation in the United States

rather than going to Europe. After the passage of this nineteen twenty four legislation, the National Park Service worked out a memorandum of agreement with the Bureau of Public Roads, which would later be known as the Federal Highway Administration. This agreement laid out standards for the survey, construction, and improvement of roads and trails in the National parks and

national monuments. The Bureau of Public Roads provided engineers and technical expertise, while the National Park Service provided landscape architects who focused on designing roadways that had a naturalistic design. The actual construction was typically done by private firms under contract to the BPR. So all of this, the roads and this agreement, and the Sea America First Movement was part of the creation of Shenandoah National Park and Skyline Drive.

We'll have more on that after a sponsor break in nineteen twenty four, the Southern Appalachian National Park Committee developed a questionnaire to solicit public feedback about possible locations for a national park. The committee traveled all around the Southern Appalachian Mountains. They mainly looked at sites in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia, but some of the members also went to

West Virginia, Alabama, and Kentucky. Every state that was under consideration was interested in this project due to the potential to bring in tourism dollars and to have federal investments into the roads and other infrastructure that would be needed to support the park. So cities and towns all around hosted all kinds of festivals and what not to try to attract attention. The committee was looking for sites that met these criteria quote One mountain scenery with inspiring perspectives

and delightful details. Two areas sufficiently extensive and adaptable so that annually millions of visitors might enjoy the benefits of outdoor life and communion with nature without the confusion of overcrowding. Three a substantial park to contain forests, shrubs, and flowers, and mountain streams with picturesque cascades and waterfalls overhung with foliage, all untouched by the hand of man. Four abundant springs and streams available for camps and fishing. Five opportunities for

protecting and developing the wildlife of the area. The whole to be a natural museum, preserving outstanding features of the Southern Appalachians as they appeared in the early pioneer days.

Six accessibility by rail and road. In their report, the committee wrote that quote, several areas were found that contained topographic features of great scenic value, where waterfalls, cascades, cliffs, and mountain peaks with beautiful valleys lying in their midst gave ample assurance that any or all of these areas were possible for development into a national park, which would compare favorably with any of the existing national parks in

the West. All that has saved these nearby regions from spoliation for so long a time has been their inaccessibility and the difficulty of profitably exploiting the timber wealth that mantles the steep mountain slopes. With rapidly increasing shortage and mountain values of forest products. However, we face the immediate danger that the last remnants of our primeval forests will be destroyed. However, remote on steep mountain side or hidden

away in deep, lonely cove, they may be. Ultimately, the committee recommended the creation of a park in the Blue

Ridge Mountains in Virginia. It noted that this site was within about a three hour drive of Washington, d c. And was within about a day's drive of forty million people, and it described what it thought would be the park's greatest single feature quote a possible skyline drive along the mountaintop, following a continuous ridge and looking down westerly on the Shenandoah Valley, some two thousand five hundred to three thousand five hundred feet below, and also commanding a view of

the Piedmont Plain stretching easterly to the Washington Monument, which landmark of our national capital may be seen on a clear day. Few seen drives in the world could surpass it. In other words, this recommended park would be a place where people could hike and fish and camp and picnic and learn all about plants and wildlife, and get away from the noise and the pollution of the city. And it would also be a scenic drive that you could

travel by car. The committee also recommended a second location, roughly three hundred miles south of the first, in the Great Smoky Mountains on the border between North Carolina and Tennessee. The committee thought this site was superior quote because of the height of mountains, depth of valleys, ruggedness of the area,

and the unexampled variety of trees, shrubs, and plants. But the Smokies also presented some challenges that the land in Virginia did not, including that it was very rugged with higher elevations, which would make road and park development more difficult. The Smokies also seemed to be prone to excessive rainfall, something that the committee couldn't really quantify, but that should

be studied more thoroughly. When Secretary of the Interior Hubert Work passed these recommendations on to the House Committee on the Public Lands, he said, in part quote, recognizing the tremendous popularity and value of the National park system in its service to our people, it is my opinion that a definite policy should be adopted by the government for the creation of additional National parks in the Eastern Section for the public use and general welfare of its millions

of inhabitants. Most of these live in densely populated communities and cannot afford the time or the money required to visit the Western national parks. The East contributes its share to the upkeep and maintenance of the existing national park system, and for that reason, too should be entitled to recognition. There were immediate calls for public support for this proposed park.

For example, the committee's report to Secretary Work was printed in National Parks and Conservation Magazine alongside a notice to the Women of America by missus John Dickinson Sherman, President of the General Federation of Women's Clubs. It's said, in part quote, the General Federation of Women's Clubs is a service organization. The Women of America constitute the largest body for service in the world, and there are none more devoted.

I appeal not to General Federation women only, but to the women of America to support wholeheartedly and enthusiastically the choice of Secretary Works Committee. Our National Park system is a service system or it is nothing. I am glad you read that part, because the last sentence makes me cry. We've had good fortune in handing off the cry bits

to the other person lately. We sure have so Congress past legislation authorized the creation of both of the recommended parks, which President Calvin Coolidge signed into law on May twenty second, nineteen twenty six. The site in Virginia would become Shenandoah National Park, and the site in North Carolina and Tennessee would become Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Three days after that, Coolidge also signed legislation approving the establishment of Mammoth Cave

National Park. There was a big difference between these three parks and the ones that had been established in the West. Yellowstone, Yosemite, and others had been created from land that the federal government already purportedly owned, So the government was setting aside land to serve as a park without having to make arrangements or spend the money to acquire it. But the land for these three parks was privately owned, mostly by

small individual landowners. It would require a lot of time, money, and work to buy all of that land and then transition it into a park. The Southern Apalachian National Park Committee had referenced this situation in its report, saying, quote, we have not attempted to estimate the cost of acquiring this area, as we are not sure that it falls

within the scope of our committee's work. We suggest, however, that a spirit of constructive cooperation on the part of the State of Virginia and among some of the large landowners of this region with whom we have been in touch promises reasonable prices and perhaps a number of donations. We suggest that of Congress thinks favorable of this proposed park site, a commission be appointed to handle the purchase and to solicit contributions and to arrange condemnation proceedings. If

the State of Virginia deems it wise. The creation of such a park may well be made contingent on a limited total land cost. We talked about the process of acquiring land for Mammoth Cave National Park in our episode on the Kentucky Cave Wars, which came out on August nineteenth, twenty twenty four. The creation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is also its own story for Shenandoah National

Park and Skyline Drive. It was a whole process. The plan was for the Commonwealth of Virginia to purchase the land and then donate that land to the federal government. Virginia didn't actually have a budget to buy that land, though the money would at least in theory, be coming from donations. So the land that would become Shenandoah National Park is the ancestral and traditional homeland of multiple indigenous nations and peoples. This includes speakers of at least three

different language groups, suin, Iroquoian and Algonquian. It's an incredibly diverse area, but by the time the park was being proposed, most of the region's indigenous peoples had been forced out through colonisation, warfare, and removals. This process of displacement and erasure was still going on into the twentieth century, including through the passage of a Racial Purity Act in Virginia in nineteen twenty four that defined indigenous people with any

amount of African ancestry as quote colored. We talk about this more in our two part episode on Loving versus Virginia, which was the nineteen sixty seven Supreme Court decision that found laws banning interracial marriage to be unconstitutional. That two parter came out on April fifteenth and seventeenth, twenty thirteen. So by the time Congress authorized the creation of Shenandoah National Park, most of the people living in these mountains

and valleys were white. They were mainly subsistence farmers who lived primarily on small tracts of land that had some planted crops, some pasture for their animals, and some forest for timber and other resources. There were some people who had land they were willing to sell, but for the most part it was land they didn't have some other kind of use for otherwise. This was often land that people had been living and working for generations and they

didn't want to leave it. So two overlapping, interconnected projects started at this point. One was securing the land and the right of way that would be necessary to build that quote possible skyline drive along the mountaintop that the committee had described as the possible greatest single feature of

this National park. That road was intended to travel all the way from one end of the park to the other, where it would provide access to campgrounds and picnic areas and other amenities while also functioning as a scenic road for sightseeing. The construction of this road would be paid for largely through federal funding. And then the other project was to survey and acquire all the land for the rest of the park, and that was meant to be funded by private donations. We will talk about that more

after we pause for a sponsor break. When Congress passed legislation authorizing the establishment of Shenandoah National Park, it described a five hundred and twenty one thousand acre park, with that land purchased through donations and private funds not from the federal budget. An organization called the Shenandoah Valley National Park Association had already been established before this to try to raise funds, and it had set an initial goal

of two point five million dollars. By April of nineteen twenty six, it had raised more than one point two million dollars in pledges, and that had been enough to be able to get that congressional authorization for the park. Once Congress had passed the legislation, Virginia Governor Harry F. Bird established the Conservation and Development Commission to survey, a praise,

and actually purchase the necessary land. It became clear almost immediately that the two point five million dollar fundraising goal was not going to be enough. As we said earlier, a lot of people didn't want to sell their land, or they didn't want to sell it as cheaply as those initial estimates had assumed. Property values also started to

increase because of the proposed park. As five hundred twenty one thousand acres started to seem impossible, William E. Carson, chair of the Conservation and Development Commission, advocated for the size of the park to be reduced. This was the first in a series of size reductions for the park in progress, but it was not enough to bridge the

gap between the estimates and the reality. It also didn't address the fact that the state needed to acquire land from hundreds of individual landowners, some of who were adamantly opposed to selling, like sometimes appraiser showed up at somebody's home and they were greeted with a shotgun. Even in the best circumstances, this would have been immensely time and labor intensive, but the circumstances really just seemed to be

getting more and more contentious. So in nineteen twenty eight, Virginia passed a Blanket Condemnation Act, which allowed the state to file one condemnation notice in each of the counties where the park was going to be, and then condemn all of the applicable land and purchase it by eminent domain.

The thought process behind this law went back to the aftermath of the Spanish American War, when the US used a similar tactic to compensate the Vatican for Church owned land that residents of the Philippines had settled on during and after the war. Carson's brother had served on the Supreme Court of the Philippines and was very familiar with this strategy. Of course, this blanket condemnation led to pushback and court cases, but it did allow the state to

start acquiring the necessary land a little more quickly. People were paid for their land, but there were a lot of disparities in terms of how much they were paid. Like people who could afford a lawyer or who knew how to contact to get help, they generally did better than people who were poor, isolated and didn't have a

lot of access to education or resources. Like if you had a personal line to your state rep who could argue with this committee on your behalf, you might get a lot more money than somebody who really didn't know where to start with all of this. But then the Great Depression started in nineteen twenty nine, and that meant it got a lot harder to bring in new donations to pay for the condemned Lane and to collect on

people's earlier pledges. By nineteen thirty two, the minimum acreage needed for the park had been reduced to one hundred and sixty thousand acres. It ultimately took ten years and an appropriation of a million dollars from the Virginia General Assembly to acquire the necessary land. Virginia had not been paying to or had not been intending to do that, and was like, if we don't put in this million dollars,

it's not going to happen. As all of this was going on, the federal government was also building Skyline Drive as the park's access road and scenic parkway. This started with the creation of a fishing camp for President Herbert Hoover, who was the president at the time. William E. Carson had secured exclusive fishing rights on a part of the Rapidan River and convinced the President to establish his fishing

camp there. The presidential fishing camp required a road, and this area was also in the middle of an intense drought, so this road building became a federal drought relief project. The Federal Drought Relief Administration paid for out of work farmers and fruit pickers to build the Road, and then the road became part of Skyline Drive and the President's Fishing Camp became part of Shenandoah National Park. This first phase of work initially connected the Fishing Camp to Big Meadows,

Skyland and Thornton Gap. The idea behind Skyline Drive was that the road would be easy to drive on, with gentle spiral curves and a speed limit of thirty five miles an hour. In most places. Engineers and landscape architects used techniques that had been refined on roads and parkways in the parks in the West. It was built in segments of about ten to twelve miles, with each segment being built with a different crew, most of them locally hired.

Much of the manual labor was paid for by relief programs, first drought relief and then relief from the Great Depression. These segments had their differences based on the needs of the land along each stretch, but there was also a sense of unity stemming from the landscape architect's initial work to plan a road that would simultaneously have the best

views and the least impact on the landscape. So the road was built along a mountain side or carved out from the mountain with soil that was then used to fill in other areas for the road. Blasting was limited and tightly controlled to minimize any scarring or destruction of the landscape, and large trees were protected as much as possible. Retaining walls, tunnels, and bridges were built from local stone, and originally there were also guard rails made from local

chestnut logs. By the time this road building got underway, it had been seven years since the Southern Appalachian National Park Committee had made its recommendation for the establishment of Shenandoah National Park. While there was plenty of controversy around the park and the fundraising and the land acquisition, people

were also incredibly impatient for it to be open. An unpaved portion of the road from Camp Rapidan was open to the public temporarily in the fall of nineteen thirty two, and while drivers did seem to enjoy the view, the temporary opening made it clear how much work there really was left to do. Not only did the road need to be paved, but there needed to be overlooks, guardrails, and other features and amenities added before it could be really suitable as the scenic drive that it was intended

to be. Herbert Hoover lost the nineteen thirty two presidential election, and his successor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, established the Civilian Conservation Corps not long after taking office in nineteen thirty three. This was part of the New Deal, the set of projects and programs to try to help the United States

get through the Great Depression. The CCC was created through the Emergency Conservation Work Act, which was legislation passed by Congress as well as Executive Order sixty one oh one Relief of unemployment through the performance of useful public work. The Civilian Conservation Corps provided jobs for unemployed, unmarried young men, and a lot of that work was related to parks

and natural resources. The CCC was racially segregated, and while there were CCC camps for black workers elsewhere in Virginia, the ones at Shenandoah were all white and most of the people working in them were from small towns in Virginia. Ultimately, there were twelve CCC camps connected to Shenandoah National Park and Skyline Drive. CCC workers built hiking trails and fire trails,

picnic areas, campgrounds, and other amenities in the park. They also planted native trees and shrubs, and built overlooks and guardrails along Skyline Drive. They graded the land around the road, helping it to blend in naturally with the landscape, and they helped restore land that had been overfarmed, again focusing on native plants and trees. In some areas they cut down trees and other vegetation to improve the view from the road and from overlooks, but in others they replanted

areas that had been clearcut or otherwise depleted. There was a focus on restoration of the native ecosystem, but also about creating and maintaining of vieute that looked natural, maybe not wild, and untouched in the way the national parks in the West had been constructed but scenic and rustic. Over the course of the Great Depression, about four thousand people found work in Shenandoah National Park and on Skyline Drive. The first finished section of Skyline Drive open to the

public in nineteen thirty four. This was the central part of the parkway. The northern section opened in nineteen thirty six, and the southern part in nineteen thirty nine, which was after the park had opened. President Franklin D. Roosevelt formally dedicated Shenandoah National Park on July third, nineteen thirty six, at Big Meadows, which is one of the park's recreation areas.

In his address, he said, quote, the creation of this park is one part of our great program of husbandry, the joint husbandry of our human resources and our natural resources. He spoke about the young men who had found work in building the park and how the park was a work of natural conservation that would give vacationers a respite that was good for their souls. He concluded, quote, we seek to pass on to our children a richer land,

a stronger nation. I therefore dedicate Shenandoah National Park to this and succeeding generations of Americans for the recreation and for the recreation which we shall find here. We are bat thousand on the opposite person reading the thing that made us cry. Hooray. I mean that was a close call for me, but I made it okay. So the park's struggles had not ended with the acquisition of the necessary land like this address made it sound really lovely,

but there had still been a lot of strife. In February of nineteen thirty four, National Park Director Arno B. Cameer had announced that anybody living in the park would have to leave before the park could open. From the federal government's point of view, this had always been the expectation, like that was how it was supposed to work, but that had not always been communicated very clearly, including to people who were tenants on land that was being sold

to make the park. They were now being considered squatters. A resettlement project called the Shenandoah Homesteads Project had been established in nineteen thirty four and then was taken over by the Resettlement Administration, which was a new deal anti poverty program. This program was incredibly controversial, including among some people who had been supporters of the park since the beginning.

For example, Harry F. Byrd, who had served as Virginia's governor until nineteen thirty and then had been elected as a US Senator, found it paternalistic and wasteful. The goal of this program was to resettle people out of the park and into newly established communities. People who earned a living by farming were to be moved to similar homesteads, and others were expected to find work in other industries.

But some of the people who were displaced by the creation of the park had been getting at least part of their income from gathering and selling chestnuts. The chestnut blight that was introduced to the United States from Asia reached this part of Virginia as the park was being built. That dramatically affected the landscape of the park, and it

also destroyed chestnuts as a source of income. So that meant that some of the people who were being resettled were not only being displaced, but they also had to figure out an entirely new way of life. Roughly two thousand people from four hundred and sixty five families were forcibly relocated for the creation of Shenandoah National Park, and most of them did not make it on the homesteads where they had been resettled, and they were ultimately displaced again.

There were a lot of reasons for this, including that many of them went from living on land that their family had owned outright for generations to land where they had to pay rent or a mortgage. There were also people who tried to return to their cabins after being forced out of them, and others who tried to take shelter in them due to the financial strains of the Great Depression, The National Park Service eventually destroyed many of these cabins to try to stop people from squatting in them.

A very small number of elderly people were allowed to remain in their homes within the park until the end of their lives or until they needed to move somewhere that they could have more support. None of this was really known to park visitors unless they were maybe locals, and after Sanando A National Park officially opened in nineteen thirty six, it quickly became one of the most visited national parks. It was the first national parks who get

a million visitors in a year. Skyline Drive had also been instantly popular after its first section opened in nineteen thirty four, and of course, there were black visitors to the park and black motorists on Skyline Drive right from the beginning. Perhaps surprisingly considering that this was a southern state in the nineteen thirties, this doesn't seem like something that park planners or the federal government had really thought

much about before the park opened. Yeah, if they thought about it, they didn't like take action to make any kind of official policy, and by nineteen thirty eight there were about ten thousand black visitors to Shenandoah National Park every year, and there were also ongoing issues with black visitors being given contradictory messages from park staff about where they were allowed to be, what facilities they were allowed to use, as well as being hassled by white staff

and visitors. So the National Park Service eventually established segregated accommodations in the park at Lewis Mountain, including a coffee shop, picnic area, campground, and cottages. These accommodations opened in nineteen thirty nine, and soon they became so popular that white visitors were asking to be admitted to them as well. Apparently this had some of the best food in the park, and there was also a musical performance series that was

very popular. The Pinnacle's picnic ground was also established specifically to be an integrated facility. There was no formal segregation policy for the rest of the park, but it was just broadly treated as whites only until the park started desegregating in the late nineteen forties. It finished that process in nineteen fifty, although to be clear, there are still criticisms today about park visitors and staff, and the National

Park Service more broadly being disproportionately white. Today, Skyline Drive runs for one hundred and five point five miles and it's the only public road in Shenandoah National Park. In nineteen ninety six, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Shenandoah National Park encompasses nearly two hundred thousand acres of land today when nearly eighty thousand acres

designated as wilderness. There are also more than five hundred miles of hiking trails, including one hundred and one miles of the Appalachian Trail, which runs parallel to Skyline Drive. There is an entry fee of fifteen dollars per person entering on foot or thirty dollars for private vehicles entering

on Skyline Drive. Motorcycles are twenty five dollars. Shenando A National Park which I haven't said this earlier because it's going to be in the behind the scenes, but just in case people are wondering, it is an indigenous word, but we're not actually sure from which language are what specifically it meant. But shenando A National Park is also connected to Great Smoky Mountains National Park via the Blue Ridge Parkway, and that's what we're going to talk about

next time. Do you have listener mail? I do I have listener mail. So this listener mail is from Kieran. They titled this email Roman Baths and Butts. The email says, Hello Tracy and Hilly. I hope this email finds you as well as can possibly be. I just wanted to write a quick note that I hope might bring you

a little bit of a laugh. Like most people, I've been having a chaotic year and fell behind on my listening, but just caught up and had to laugh at the timing of the Roman bathing traditions mentioned in the unearthed

episodes Tasting History with Max Miller. Also just at a recent episode on Roman banquets, this time specifically roasted flamingo and quoted a few wonderfully spicy quips from the poet Marshall, infamous for his copious writings about whether or not he was invited to someone's dinner and his perceived quality of their company. Marshall wrote two slash of one acquaintance quote, you don't invite anyone to dinner, Katta except your bathing companions.

The baths alone supply you with guests. I've been wondering why you never invite me, Kada, but now I understand you don't like the site of my but clearly modern humans are not the only ones to perhaps have some misgivings about bathing and dining with all your work colleagues and acquaintances. Lol. I have not yet read Marshall's copious epigrams, but this episode made me want to put them on my reading list. Anyway, Thank you to so much for all that you do. I cannot express in words how

much I appreciate you both. I want to add my name to the list of people thanking you, particularly for the unearthed episodes and especially their introduction. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I know this year has been a doozy thus far, to say the least, so I hope that people in your life bake you cupcakes or something else nice soon as a treat for all of your hard work. You deserve all the special treats. Thanks again and all the best, Kieran. Thank you so much for this email. Kieran.

This was a delight, but I don't really have anything else at that and I hope that Marshall is how Marshall's name was pronounced as an ancient Roman person. I did not go look it up. If it's some other pronunciation that pronounces letters differently, Sorry, Now I want Tina Belcher to become obsessed with Roman butts, because you know

she has a butt fetish. If you'd like to send us a note about this or any other podcast or history podcasts at iHeartRadio dot com, and you can subscribe to our show on the iHeartRadio app and anywhere else you'd like to get your podcasts. Stuff you missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.