# Shenandoah National Park — a road along the crest of the Blue Ridge, past stone walls, waterfalls and black bears Canonical: https://sockmonkey.com/places/shenandoah-national-park (this is a plain-text copy of that page) Source: https://sockmonkey.com/places/shenandoah-national-park Publisher: SockMonkey.com (https://sockmonkey.com) Part of: The Field Guide - https://sockmonkey.com/places/ Cite as: SockMonkey.com - sockmonkey.com Last reviewed: 13 November 2026 Part of The US National Parks - **Where:** Blue Ridge Mountains, northern Virginia - **Coordinates:** 38.53° N, 78.44° W (Big Meadows) - **Skyline Drive:** 105 miles, top speed 35 mph - **Highest point:** Hawksbill Mountain, 4,050 ft - **Protected:** Authorized 1926, established 1935 - **Trails:** More than 500 miles, with, 101 of the Appalachian Trail - **Best visited:** Autumn colour, usually brightest, in the second or third week of October - **Advisory:** United States, (no State Department level) ## The short answer Shenandoah National Park covers more than 200,000 acres of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia: a long, narrow park that stretches 105 miles from its northern entrance at Front Royal to its southern entrance near Waynesboro. Skyline Drive, the only public road through it, follows the crest the whole way at no more than 35 miles an hour, past more than 75 overlooks, so most people need three or four hours just to drive it. More than 60 peaks rise above 3,000 feet; the highest, Hawksbill Mountain, reaches 4,050 feet. President Franklin Roosevelt dedicated the new park on July 3, 1936. ## Why it's worth knowing A road on the roof. Everything in the park hangs off Skyline Drive: the campgrounds, the lodges and most of the trailheads sit beside it. Dense fog can roll over the crest on any day of the year, at any hour, and at Marys Rock it ducks through a tunnel with 12 feet 8 inches of headroom. The mountain is usually about 10°F cooler than the valley below, which is a fine reason to be up there in July. Built by the boys. From 1933 to 1942, twelve camps of the Civilian Conservation Corps stood in and around what became the park, each home to about 200 young men at a time, more than 6,500 in all. They signed on for $30 a month, of which $25 went straight home to their parents and $5 was theirs to keep. They built the rock walls, trails, fire roads and overlooks, planted hundreds of thousands of trees and shrubs, and made much of the park that visitors see now. More than three hundred of the park’s historic structures are on the National Register of Historic Places. A refuge, refilled. Hunting ended the bison of these mountains around 1798 and the elk in 1855; beaver and river otter were gone by the late 1800s, and bears, deer and turkey had dwindled badly. Most have come back in the past century. Several hundred black bears now live in the park, along with more than 190 kinds of resident and passing birds, the endangered Shenandoah salamander and more than 800 species of wildflower. ## The field notes ### The families who left People have lived in these mountains for at least 9,000 years. By the 1930s more than 400 families lived within the lines of the future park, farming, grazing livestock and tending orchards on the slopes. When the park was established, some moved out on their own and others were moved into homes in resettlement communities set up by the Rural Resettlement Administration; several older people were allowed to live out their lives in their homes inside the park. The traces are still in the woods: the foundations of an old home, or a cluster of apple trees that was once an orchard. ### One campground, once The first park managers set up segregated facilities. Black visitors could picnic and camp at Lewis Mountain, and nowhere else in the park’s developed areas. Desegregation came officially in 1950, though the effects of separate facilities did not vanish overnight. Lewis Mountain is a quiet campground and picnic ground now. ### A bugle at Skyland Decades before the park, city people came up to Skyland Resort for clean air and mountain views. Its manager, George Freeman Pollock, ran it with a showman’s flair: his bugle woke the guests every morning, called them to meals and entertainments, and announced the daily mail, and he staged balls, costume parties, jousts, pageants and bonfires. He was a better promoter than businessman. When the park was established he owed $67,107.22 on a property appraised at less than $30,000, and he received nothing for almost four decades of work. Twelve historic Skyland buildings remain. ### A President’s fishing camp Herbert Hoover liked to fish, so his summer White House was built where two streams join to form the Rapidan River. He and Lou Henry Hoover stayed at Rapidan Camp from 1929 to 1932, in a cabin called the Brown House, and the President conducted official business from it. Leaving office, Hoover gave the camp to the National Park Service for the park that was about to be made. It is a National Historic Landmark, reached on foot from Milam Gap. ### A name nobody can pin down The park takes its name from the Shenandoah River, which flows through the valley just to the west, and nobody knows for sure what the word means. The candidates are wonderful: “daughter of the stars”, “silver water”, “river through the spruces”, “river of high mountains”, “great meadow” and “big flat place”. It may also come from a chief called Sherando, or from a people called the Senedoes, who lived in the valley until 1730. **A relic from Shenandoah National Park** A stone wall at an overlook on Skyline Drive. At almost any overlook, the rock wall underfoot was laid by a young man of the Civilian Conservation Corps, unmarried and aged 18 to 23 when he signed on, working five and a half days a week in all seasons and all weather. The corps ran from 1933 to 1942, and its work in the mountains turned out to be a training ground too: it helped prepare a generation for the great call-up of the Second World War. ## Getting there How to get there. Four entrance stations lead onto Skyline Drive: Front Royal in the north, off Route 340; Thornton Gap, on US 211 near Luray; Swift Run Gap, on US 33 near Elkton; and Rockfish Gap in the south, a few miles east of Waynesboro, off US 250 and I-64. Washington Dulles International Airport is 56 miles east of the Front Royal entrance and Reagan National 70 miles; Shenandoah Valley Regional Airport is 27 miles west of Swift Run Gap and Charlottesville-Albemarle 31 miles east of Rockfish Gap. No shuttle serves the park, so travel to and within it is by car. Fuel is sold at Big Meadows, at mile 51. Many gated service roads touch the boundary; the public can enter only at the four entrance stations. When to go. Autumn colour starts on the high ground and moves slowly downhill; it is generally at its brightest around the second or third week of October, and in recent years many trees have kept their colour well into November. Pink azaleas usually bloom in late May and early June, and mountain laurel is at its fullest in June. Spring wildflowers crowd the lower streams first. What to arrange ahead. As of 12 November 2026, hiking Old Rag Mountain takes a day-use ticket bought in advance, on top of the park entrance pass. Marys Rock Tunnel, at mile 32.2, has a clearance of 12 feet 8 inches. Safety. The State Department’s travel advisories cover other countries, so none applies here. Skyline Drive closes at times in bad weather, and the park’s alerts page carries its current status. ## Common questions #### How long is Skyline Drive? A long, lovely 105 miles. Skyline Drive runs the length of Shenandoah National Park along the crest of the Blue Ridge, with a top speed of 35 miles an hour and more than 75 overlooks, so most people need three or four hours just to drive it. #### Where is Shenandoah National Park? In the Blue Ridge Mountains of northern Virginia. Shenandoah National Park runs 105 miles from Front Royal in the north to near Waynesboro in the south, about 75 miles from Washington, DC. #### When are the autumn colours best in Shenandoah? Usually mid to late October. In Shenandoah National Park the colour turns first on the high ground and moves downhill, and is generally brightest around the second or third week of October, with many trees still colourful into November. #### Are there bears in Shenandoah National Park? Yes, several hundred. Black bears live throughout Shenandoah National Park in Virginia and turn up anywhere from the trails to the walk between a car and a restaurant, along with deer, bobcats and more than 190 kinds of birds. #### Who built the stone walls along Skyline Drive? Young men of the Civilian Conservation Corps. Between 1933 and 1942 more than 6,500 of them worked in and around Shenandoah National Park, building its rock walls, overlooks, trails and fire roads for $30 a month, $25 of it sent home. #### Did people live in Shenandoah before it became a park? Yes, and for a very long time. People lived in the Blue Ridge for at least 9,000 years, and in the 1930s more than 400 families lived on land that became Shenandoah National Park; when the park was established they had to leave. #### What is the highest point in Shenandoah National Park? Hawksbill Mountain, at 4,050 feet. It is the highest summit in Shenandoah National Park; the highest point on Skyline Drive itself is 3,680 feet, at mile 41.7 by the northern entrance to Skyland. #### What does the name Shenandoah mean? Nobody knows for sure. Shenandoah National Park is named for the Shenandoah River, and the guesses for the word include “daughter of the stars”, “silver water” and “river of high mountains”, or a chief called Sherando. What to pack: the Road trips kit ## Related places New River Gorge National Park and Preservealso in The US National Parks · about 240 km away Congaree National Parkalso in The US National Parks · about 560 km away Acadia National Parkalso in The US National Parks · both tagged hiking Everglades National Parkalso in The US National Parks · both tagged wildlife Hawk Mountainabout 310 km away · both tagged hiking Notes on sources. Shenandoah National Park is in the United States, so no State Department advisory applies. The National Park Service’s pages for the park, read directly on 12 November 2026, supplied: the 75 miles from Washington, the more than 200,000 acres, the 60 peaks over 3,000 feet, the 105 miles of Skyline Drive and the 500 miles of trail (home page, updated 8 September 2026); the 35 mph limit, the more than 75 overlooks and three to four hours, the road as the only public road through the park, fog on any day, Marys Rock Tunnel and its clearance, fuel at Big Meadows, no shuttle, the Old Rag day-use ticket, the 101 miles of the Appalachian Trail, the several hundred black bears, the autumn colour, azalea and laurel seasons, the 800 wildflower species, Hawksbill and the highest point on the drive, the name and its candidate meanings, the dates of 1926, 1935 and 1936, Rapidan Camp, the 400 families and their resettlement, and the CCC’s work (questions page, updated 11 March 2026); the four entrances, their roads and the airport distances (directions, updated 12 October 2022); the mountain being about 10°F cooler than the valley (weather, updated 10 July 2025); the CCC camps, their numbers, the $30 and $25 and the 6,500 men (CCC, updated 31 October 2018); the 9,000 years, the resettled families’ traces, Skyland, Rapidan Camp and the segregated facilities and their end in 1950 (people, updated 8 December 2022); the history along the drive, Lewis Mountain and the three hundred listed structures (places, updated 20 December 2022); Pollock, his bugle, the resort’s entertainments, the liens and the appraisal, and the twelve remaining buildings (Skyland, updated 31 March 2026); and the lost and returning animals, the bird count and the Shenandoah salamander (animals, updated 5 December 2023). The coordinates are Big Meadows, from the park’s weather page. Checked 12 November 2026. Written and fact-checked by SockMonkey.com. Last reviewed 13 November 2026.