{"id":22632,"date":"2011-07-14T20:12:28","date_gmt":"2011-07-15T00:12:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/?p=22632"},"modified":"2025-08-21T09:58:05","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T13:58:05","slug":"things-to-do-shenandoah-national-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/22632\/things-to-do-shenandoah-national-park\/","title":{"rendered":"Things to Do in Shenandoah National Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201c<\/strong>This is not Yellowstone National Park. These mountains are much, much older. These mountains don’t shout\u2026they whisper.\u201d<\/p>\n

Superintendent Park Manager Martha Bogle is talking about the Blue Ridge Mountains at\u00a0Shenandoah\u00a0National Park<\/a>, celebrating its 75th<\/sup> anniversary this year.<\/p>\n

Only 75 miles from Washington, D.C., the park was designed to offer a cool, green refuge from the workaday world to citizens from all over the country. Opened officially by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1936, the Park\u2019s 500 hiking paths (including 101 miles of the Appalachian Trail) wind through some of Virginia\u2019s most ravishing views along mountain trails so mysteriously lovely that Edgar Allen Poe wrote \u201cA Tale of the Ragged Mountains\u201d about their misty glamour.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like to remind people that these are some of the world\u2019s oldest mountains,\u201d Bogle explains as she gestures toward the panoramic sunset from the Park\u2019s Skyline Lodge drawing room. \u201cThey are older than the Himalayas, older than the Rockies. I was always taught to respect my elders and these mountains are the grandparents of them all.\u201d<\/p>\n

The feeling of history and family ancestry (of mountains and people alike) surrounds travelers from the minute they step off the platform at the nearby Culpeper Amtrak railway station (about a 22-mile bike ride from the Park). Bike riders traveling through time to\u00a0Shenandoah\u00a0can bring their wheels with them on the train (a five-hour 45-minute ride) from New York City or they can rent them at Culpeper\u2019s local shop, the\u00a0Bike Stop<\/a>. Travelers not averse to a short cab ride (under $20) can take a local car service at the rail station direct to the Park\u2019s entrance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Lustrous Luray: An Underground Wonderland<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Luray Caverns<\/a> <\/strong>is a 20-mile bike ride or an under $20 cab ride from\u00a0Shenandoah\u00a0National Park. It\u2019s one of those iconic American places that spawn T-shirts and snow globes. But don\u2019t let its reputation fool you. Luray Caverns is one of the most spectacular examples of mother nature\u2019s artistic genius underground.<\/p>\n

A warren of subterranean chambers, the caves were formed millions of years ago and are still in the making. Stalactites (the ones above) and stalagmites (the ones below) and other frozen formations with exotic names like Titania\u2019s Veil and the Saracen\u2019s Tent will enthrall even the most cynical city traveler.\u00a0In the 1950\u2019s a mathematician\/supergeek by the name of Leland W. Sprinkle, turned some of the stalactites into pipes for a unique organ now called the largest musical instrument in the world. The organ plays real music with otherworldly beauty.\u00a0Lord of the Rings, Twilight <\/em>and other fantasy fans will never want to leave.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The Writing on the Wall: Culpeper and The Graffiti House<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Culpeper itself is a historic Civil War town; once a refuge for soldiers on both sides of the battle and a frontline for famous caretakers like Clara Barton and Walt Whitman.\u00a0\u00a0Today, Culpeper is a compact and friendly town, deeply proud of its history but eager to show off its contemporary Southern hospitality. Travelers who like to venture off the beaten track but come back to luxe digs can quarter at\u00a0The Suites at 249<\/a>, Culpeper\u2019s newest all suite boutique hotel (from $160 a night) with simple but chic decor housed in a historic brick building on Davis Street, Culpeper\u2019s main street.\u00a0\u00a0Visitors stopping through on the way to the park should consider pausing for sweet tea and chicken fried steak or organic salad with truffle oil and Pinot Grigio at one of Culpeper\u2019s varied foodie havens, then making a short pilgrimage to The Graffiti House, five miles north of town. The Graffiti House<\/a> was a hospital for both Confederate and Union soldiers during the Civil War.\u00a0\u00a0Soldiers and staff alike used charcoal from the fireplace to draw and write messages on the walls.\u00a0\u00a0When the house was sold in the late 1990\u2019s local historians purchased it and it was opened as a museum in 2002.\u00a0\u00a0The house, destined to become featured on a national ghost hunters TV show this year, speaks to us like a time capsule from the Civil War in the form of words, names and poignant drawings that look as fresh as when the soldiers staying here made them.<\/p>\n

Iron Mike and a Bittersweet Legacy<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Moving forward through time to the gates of\u00a0Shenandoah\u00a0National Park<\/a>, travelers without cars will find an $8 individual entrance fee and a statue of Iron Mike. Iron Mike represents a member of the Civilian Conservation Corps, the FDR-era workers that helped clear the land and build the park. Inside the Harry S. Byrd Sr. Visitor\u2019s Center, a thoughtful exhibit explains the park\u2019s history and doesn’t shirk from controversies surrounding it. When\u00a0Shenandoah\u00a0was planned in the late 1920’s, some 465 families were evicted from their homes and moved off the land. A few residents, who had lived in the mountains for generations, fought the government and stayed. The park allowed their families to bury them here after they died. You still see odd and haunting reminders of their presence such as tumbled down stone fireplaces, old livestock fences tattooing tree trunks and grave markers peeping out from beneath the foliage like ruins of a lost civilization. Another shadowy chapter of the park\u2019s history told honestly in the Center is segregation, which relegated African-American visitors to one campground, the Lewis Mountain Cabins. Shenandoah\u00a0was one of the first public places in Virginia to desegregate in the early 1950’s but the Lewis Mountain Cabins remain as a landmark to a generation of African Americans who found a summer haven there in the 1930’s and 40’s.<\/p>\n

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Roving further into history, visitors can hike to Rapidan Camp, Herbert Hoover\u2019s summer White House. The depression-era president and his wife, Lou retreated from the heat in Washington with visits to the rustic camp with friends like Charles and Anne Morrow Lindberg. The main house has been restored with original furnishings and memorabilia but its simplicity and homespun charm is striking.<\/p>\n

The Bear Facts<\/strong>
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