Shenandoah National Park Sites

"Between May 11, 1933 and March 31, 1942, ten 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 camps supervised by the Army and worked on projects directed by the Service and the Bureau of Public Roads. Until the park was established officially on December 26, 1935, the bulk of CCC activity took place on the narrow 100 foot right-of-way of the Skyline Drive, in the few areas of purchased or donated land transferred to the federal government by the Commonwealth of Virginia, or on...

One of the first CCC camps in the park, (Camp N.P.-2), was established at Big Meadows. Some of the CCC camp structures remain. The CCC also created many of the structures that make up today's Big Meadows Campground. CCC works remaining include water fountains, comfort stations, picnic grounds, roads, cabins, a maintenance office, a gas/oil building, a stable/storage structure and more.

"Big Meadows Lodge is on Skyline Drive in Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park, and 75 overlooks along the 115-mile-long National Scenic Byway provide valley vistas. The lodge was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps and local laborers in 1939 from stone cut from nearby Massanutten Mountain. The interior paneling is made from native chestnut, a tree that is almost extinct because of chestnut blight."   (https://traveltips.usatoday.com)

"Located south along the drive from Big Meadows, Lewis Mountain Development Area sits on a plateau approximately 3,400 feet above sea level east of Lewis Mountain and consists of a picnic grounds, lodge and eight cabins (having 15 overnight units), and a campground, 30 sites for tents or trailers, a picnic area, a camp store, and two comfort stations... Lewis Mountain’s facilities were built to accommodate African American visitors during the period of racial segregation that marked Depression-era Virginia. The developed area opened in the summer of 1939 but closed in 1942 for the duration of WWII. Desegregated after the war,...

"The Skyline Drive follows closely the course of the Appalachian Trail and extends the entire length of the Shenandoah National Park, along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains, nearly 100 miles. It will eventually be extended almost 500 miles farther south. It is a hard-surfaced highway with parking spaces and wide turn-outs at frequent intervals, from which may be enjoyed views of great beauty - the Shenandoah Valley on the west and the Piedmont section of Virginia on the east. One of the engineering features is an 80-foot tunnel through St. Mary's Rock near Thornton Gap where the drive crosses...