The Greatest Single Feature

By 1929, more than 23 million passenger cars were registered in the U.S., making the automobile one of the most significant social changes ever, and early advocates proposed that Shenandoah National Park’s main attraction be built for motoring tourists. Skyline Drive was intended for leisurely drives and picnics in the cool mountain air. When the Great Depression stalled fund raising for park land acquisition, planners turned to a drought-relief appropriation and forged ahead with the road. They purchased 100-foot rights-of-way and hired local labor while architects struggled to design the road along the narrow legal route. The first section opened temporarily in 1932 to rave reviews, but erosion problems troubled the roadsides and the architects. Help arrived in 1933 when the first Civilian Conservation Corps boys came to the proposed park and set to work on trails and infrastructure. After the government took ownership of the adjacent land in 1935, their work focused on stopping erosion and installing the overlooks, plantings, and landscape details that made Skyline Drive so beautiful. Skyline Drive is both a journey and a destination, with seventy-five scenic overlooks offering expansive views of the rolling hills to the east and the valley to the west. Its 35-mph speed limit preserves the pleasure drive, and mile markers on the west side are numbered from Mile 0 at Front Royal to mile 105 at Rockfish Gap.

Virginia · United States