NPS
Until the 1930s the Blue Ridge Mountains were home to numerous thriving communities and small farms. The people were largely self-sufficient, making, growing, or gathering from the land most of the things they needed. Anything that they were not able to produce themselves, such as salt, sugar, and manufactured goods, were instead traded for at the general store. Many of the families were isolated, but the communities were connected by local schools, churches, stores, and mills where they did their business. In the late 1920s and into the 1930s, the Commonwealth of Virginia used the power of eminent domain to acquire land for donation to the federal government in order to create Shenandoah National Park. In eight Virginia counties (Albemarle, Augusta, Greene, Madison, Page, Rappahannock, Rockingham, and Warren) over 1000 individual tracts of land were acquired, and more than 500 families and individuals were displaced so the park could be established. The non-profit Blue Ridge Heritage Project, working through committees of local residents and partner organizations, has constructed a monument in each of the eight counties to recognize the sacrifices and to honor the people whose lives and livelihoods were disrupted by the creation of the new national park. The centerpiece of each site is a replica stone chimney containing a plaque with the names of the families displaced in that county. Not only are these chimneys often the only existing remnants of the former residences, but they also stand as representation of the strength and enduring spirit of those same mountain communities. |