Remaining Cultural Landscapes

What Remains?

As is true of many federally designated parks, wildernesses, and monuments, the landscape of Shenandoah reflects the centuries of human activity that pre-date its status as a National Park. Although efforts were made to erase those memories, through destruction, neglect, and regrowth, physical reminders of our history are visible to anyone who looks for them.

What is Missing?

Although the landscape is checkered with visual reminders of our past, these represent only a fracture of the homes, churches, mills, orchards, schools, and more that existed before the park was established. A majority were intentionally destroyed or left to decay in the years leading up to and following the Park’s establishment in 1935.

The destruction of these structures occurred in the interim period after residents left (or were made to leave) and before the National Park Service took ownership of the property. The Virginia Commission for Conservation and Development (SCCD)¹ permitted their destruction. This was carried out by the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) under the Emergency Conservation Work (ECW) Act. Letters and reports from SCCD chairperson William Carson, Subsistence Homestead Projects Assistant Manager L. Ferdinand Zerkel, Engineer-In-Charge J. Ralph Lassiter, NPS Director Arno Cammerer and CCC project and camp superintendents illustrate this arrangement.²

Although the National Park Service was not directly involved in tearing down or burning homes, their permission was necessary. In a letter dated December 19th 1934, Director Cammerer assures Lassiter and Zerkel,

“...this office has agreed to let the Virginia Commission for Conservation and Development demolish, or have demolished through our cooperation with the ECW forces, such buildings within the Park area as we do not want for park or historical purposes, and dispose of the lumber and other material in such a way as they see fit, but before the title to the land has been accepted by the United States.”³

What Can We See?

Although many former homes, churches, and schools were destroyed, some were simply ignored. Unfortunately many of the structures remaining were “permitted to decay under a policy of benign neglect, a nod to the park’s human history.”⁴ As a result, many of these photos, taken decades after residents left or were made to leave, reflect that neglect.

With that in mind, please explore this incomplete collection of structures inside the boundaries of Shenandoah National Park. Next time you are out on a trail, think about what life may have been like for people who lived on this land. If you have photos you would like to donate to Shenandoah National Park, please contact us at [e-mail].
 

^{[1] This was the primary government agency responsible for the establishment of the Park. That included assessing and acquiring all the land that was to become Shenandoah National Park.
[2] Ferdinand Zerkel to William A. Smith, April 9th 1935. Records of the National Park Service, Recreational Demonstration Area Program Files 1934-1937, Box 127, Folder 600-01 Land Use Study Master Plan. National Archives, College Park, Maryland. In a report dated February 12th 1935 NP-2 Superintedent DB Coffman records the demolition of a house at "Road Camp." JW Meigs, NP-4 Camp Superintedent, reported on January 201th 1935 that his crew had torn down at least 11 vacant houses.
[3] Arno Cammerer to J. Ralph Lassiter, December 13th 1934, Ferdinand Zerkel Files, Collection I, Box 4 Folder 4, Shenandoah National Park.
[4] Audrey J. Horning. "Shenandoah's Secret History," Archaeology, January/February 2000, Vol. 53, No. 1 (January/February 2000), pp. 44-51, Archaeological Institute of America.}