Shenandoah Secrets: The Park's Hidden Past

What secrets lie hidden in the Park's forests and briery tangles? What fascinating all-but-forgotten incidents took place inside its boundaries? Today, Shenandoah National Park is, in the words of an old mountain woman, "a play place for city folk." But that was not always the case. Before it was a Park, it was home to nearly 500 families in more than 300 square miles of Virginia countryside — a microcosm of an earlier America. Industry, agriculture, commerce, war with its military actions, political decisions, community, church, and family life—all these have left their mark here. As time passes, these marks grow fainter.