Shenandoah straddles part of the Appalachian province known as the Blue Ridge, and it backs up the Smoky Mountains. There are broad vistas from Skyline Drive, all the way from one end of the park to the other. There are 105 miles with 75 pull outs.
Explorer John Lederer encountered the Monocan and Manahoac tribes living in the Blue Ridge region in 1669 and described them as "peaceful and intelligent people who worshiped one god and followed a calendar." Human tenancy here is similar to that of the Great Smoky Mountains. Natives lived on and hunted these lands for thousands of years before white settlements pushed them aside, turning themselves into the new natives of the Blue Ridge.
The earliest European settlers arrived in the 1750's and built homesteads, planted crops and orchards, started businesses, and the lands were logged and mined for minerals.
Much like the Native's before them, these settlers found themselves pushed aside in the interest of developing Shenandoah National Park and were predominantly removed through the process of eminent domain by the Commonwealth of Virginia in between 1926 and the park's official establishment in 1935.
The Blue Ridge Mountains region was one of the most essential tools used by both Confederate and Union essentials. Serving as an ideal natural barrier to conceal troop movements, from 1861-1865 the Shenandoah Valley saw heavy military action as well as many lives lost. Most notably, six battle sites within the park comprise the bulk of Stonewall Jackson's Shenandoah Valley Campaign locales.
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