Location:

Northwestern Virginia. The park's northern entrance is about 75 miles southwest of Washington, D.C. There are four entrances into the park: Front Royal, Thornton Gap, Swift Run Gap, and Rockfish Gap.

Vital Stats:

Nearest airports: Charlottesville-Albemarle (31 miles east of Rockfish Gap), Washington Dulles International (56 miles east of Front Royal), and Reagan National (70 miles east of Front Royal).

Established: December 1935.

Size: 197,411 acres.

Park website: http://www.nps.gov/shen

Snapshot

Shenandoah National Park extends some 70 miles along the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, from Front Royal to Waynesboro. The park maintains more than 500 miles of trails, including 101 miles of the Appalachian Trail. Skyline Drive—which winds for 105 miles—is the only major roadway through the park. It is known as one of the most scenic drives in the country.

Did You Know?

Shenandoah National Park was built by members of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), a government jobs program created during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Workers constructed the rock walls, overlooks, picnic grounds, campgrounds, trails, and the Skyline Drive. They also planted the mountain laurel that lines the road, and built more than 340 structures in the park, many now listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The work of the CCC is commemorated by a statue of a CCC worker, Iron Mike.

Scenic Drive

The park's main road, Skyline Drive, winds some 105 miles along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains. There are 75 overlooks, affording visitors many opportunities to take in views of the Shenandoah Valley and the Virginia Piedmont. Also popular along the drive: walking sections of the Appalachian Trail, which roughly parallels the drive through the park.