Encompassing
the high summits and rolling forest of the northern Blue
Ridge while buttressed by a vast sea of farms and towns in the Shenandoah
Valley and the Virginia piedmont, Shenandoah National Park seems like it has
always been a refuge preserved from the intrusions of man. Surprisingly, this is not the case.
In
fact, less than a century ago most of these slopes were dotted with
pastures and fields. In the 1720's the early settlers who passes through
the mountains on their way westward naturally left the hilly terrain alone.
After all, their was rich bottom land readily available in the Shenandoah
Valley. Soon though, even this seemingly inexhaustible area had all been
claimed. By the late 1700's, a tough, independent group of mountain people
began to cultivate the thin, but rich topsoil of the Blue Ridge to sustain
a living.
On
the peaks and in the hollows little farms began to be carved out of the
mountain sides. Log cabins, small pastures bound by rock and rail fences,
orchards, and crop fields marked the presence of the mountain men. The high
quality virgin forest in the area meant a ready source of cash for those
who felled the timber and dragged it by mule to the water powered mills
at the base of the hollows. Elk and bison which freely roamed the woods
also provided plenty of hunting. For a time, the mountain people were able
to provide for themselves quite capably.
However,
the fragile environment of the mountains, the Civil War, and
industrialization all worked against the families living in the Blue Ridge.
Fields were so steep that farmers often joked they had to hold onto trees
while plowing. Gradually, the increasing pressures of population and
deforestation took their toll on the delicate hillsides. Erosion was a
serious problem, and the mountain people were only becoming poorer.
When
the Civil War came in 1861 and left in 1865, the Shenandoah Valley
and most of the state was devastated. Reconstruction was a long and
difficult process for any Virginian. For the mountain people, already
living a tough lifestyle, the economics of the time hit hard. Their
Confederate dollars were now worthless, and many were forced to clear cut
their remaining forest land simply to survive. Almost all the elk
and bison were now gone, and even deer had become scarce.
Reconstruction
brought industrialization to Virginia and the Shenandoah
Valley, and most of the old, water powered mills at the base of the
mountains had become obsolete. Newer, more efficient, steam driven
plants were located near the railroads--on the valley floor and away
from the mountain people. Gradually, the growing number of impoverished
Blue Ridge families were becoming isolated and left behind by the
rest of the world.
For
better or worse, during the early 1900's the US government
began to actively think about removing these people from the mountains
in order to allow the area time to recuperate naturally. Two national
parks were proposed at this time to be developed on the east coast
of the US. One, Great Smokies, would be on the North-Carolina-Tennessee
state line. Its cousin, Shenandoah, would be located on the Virginia
Blue Ridge. By this time almost 3,000 people inhabited what is now
Shenandoah National Park.
Moving
the people living inside the park boundaries was a painful,
and some consider still controversial, thing to do. The federal
government set up new communities on either side of the park and
offered the former inhabitants low cost loans and job training.
Still, many wished to be left alone and returned to the park, only
to find their former residences burned to prevent re-occupation.
More
than fifty years later, evidence of their lives still exist
in the park. Old, stacked lines of stone slink through what is
now forest and what was then pasture land. Huge trees uncharacteristically
located in a grove of brush might once have shaded a cabin or a
cow herd. Abandoned cemeteries--some maintained and some not--are
sprinkled throughout the hollows. With imagination, it is possible
to recall the days of moonshine, "hollering" across the valleys to
one's neighbors, and porch-front gatherings of blue grass musicians.
What
remains of the land today is a national treasure. Hawksbill
and Stony Man mountains both tower over 4,000 feet high. The forest
has returned, and with it some of the larger animals such as deer,
wild turkey, and the elusive black bears. Finally, Skyline Drive,
built when the park was first established, is an engineering marvel
that traces the backbone of the Blue Ridge from Front Royal in
the north to Waynesboro in the south.