Shenendoah National Park, Skyline Drive, Prints and Photoprgaphs Collection, Library of Virginia. Today the park has grown to about 200,000 acres and serves as one of the most popular parks in the country.Ĭitation: Heinemann, R. The last potion of the Skyline Drive was completed in 1939. The tunnel is 670 feet long and became one of the most iconic visual features of the roadway. In 1932, the Marys Rock Tunnel was bored through solid granite. Other workers were provided by the Civilian Conservation Corps who graded the slopes of the roadway, built guardrails and wall, constructed overlooks, made signs, built a variety of structures needed for visitation, and planted hundreds of thousands of plants as part of the landscape design. The funding for the roadway was originally allocated by the Federal Drought Relief Administration which encourages the employment of Virginia farmers and apple pickers who were suffering from the economic impacts of a severe drought. Designers had to develop new techniques in landscape architecture and engineering to create a safe roadway through the mountains. The construction of the roadway was considered a pioneering effort given the topography of the region. The groundbreaking for the Skyline Drive happed July 18, 1931. The park is composed of about 190,000 acres of donated and state purchased land that was later given to the federal government for the creation of Shenandoah National Park, the Skyline Drive, and the nearby Blue Ridge Parkway. The creation of the Shenandoah National Park represented one of the biggest land seizures using eminent domain in Virginia state history. The Shenandoah National Park was created in 1926 to preserve the beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains for recreational use and for future generations. A series of clips I shot while traveling along Skyline Divide in Shenandoah National Park and the entire Blue Ridge Parkway, in October 2011. The Skyline Drive was created and designed to be a scenic driving road as part of Shenandoah National Park.
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