Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1925-08-21
PARK PROPONENTS
ENTHUSIASTIC
Meeting of Officers of Shenandoah
Park and Their Aims

Fired with determination to def
nitely secure for Virginia the casts
first great national park, the Shen-
andoah National Park Association
has announced plans for a sweeping
campaign to raise S2,500,000 by pop
ular subscription with which to pur-
chase part of the proposed mammoth
playground in the Blue Ridge Noun
tains of Virginia.
Within the next few days, enthusi-
astic groups of workers will begin
canvassing the State from the sea-
board to its farthest boundaries, ask
ing loyal Virginians to buy an acre"
purchase small tract of the his
torie area the government hopes to
make one of the greatest centers of
outdoor recreation in the world,
bringing to this State millions of Wis
itors a year.
Six Dollars Per Acre
The nominal sum of Sc has been
set as the price of one acre of the
proposed Shenandoah National Park.
If each of the 2,309,1S7 men, women
and children who live in Virginia,
bought a single acre, their State
would have a total of $13, ,122
with which to purchase the entire
park, now being surveyed by govern
ment engineers, and turn it over to
Congress without asking the United
States Treasury to spend a single
penny for its share of the purchase
price.
The goal of the forthcoming cam
paign, however, has been set as ST.
500, 900, because officials of the Shen-
andoah National Park Association
have been assured on competent au-
thority that if Virginia subscribes
even so small an amount toward the
millions more that are to be spent
on the area, no doubt need exist thai
Congress will pass the necessary
legislation at its session this winter
and give Virginia the first great ma
tional park to be established east
of the Mississippi River
The Logical Place
With more than 100000 per-
sons-city- bound men, women and
children who now must drive far
from home to get away from modern
speed and strife-but a single days
ride from the proposed Shenandoah
National Park, experts who have ex-
amined the area and recommended
it as the logical place for the reserva-
ton predict that within five years
the swarms of tourists who will
crowd to the park will return the
States investment many fold.
The Shenandoah National Park AS.
ISOLATION was formed at Charlottes.
Vile little more than a month ago
when some of the best known mer
and women of the State gathered al
the University of Virginia to create
an organization representative OF
every interest in the commonwealth
The association has now been formal
ly chartered and is ready to go ahead
with its program.
Col. Benchoff Is President
Col. H. J. Benchoff, of Woodstock
was elected president Other Off
GERS and members <of the board OF
directors include the following:
Thomas B. McAdams, Richmond
vice president
Homer Ferguson, Newport News
vice president
John Buchanan, Marion, vice pres.
ident
d. P. Wine, Harrisonburg, secre.
tary
L. Ferdinand Zerkel, Luray, exec.
utive secretary
Hollis Rhinehart, Charlottesville
treasurer
r. H. Angel. Roanoke
Lee Long, Dante
w. A. Ryan, winchester
Hugh E. Naylor, Front Royal
Thomas S. Southgate, Norfolk
Julian Y Williams, Alexandria
Col. H. L. Opie, Staunton
Dr. Joseph H. Smith, Petersburg
C. N. Hoover, New Market
H. II. Harris, Lunchburg
Since the appeal for donations is
to be carried also to nearby states,
some of which would share to a GER
tain extent in the financial results
that will accrue from the park when
ii is established, an advisory council,
composed of some of the most prom
inent men in the United States, is
being selected by the board of direc-
tors. The personnel of this commit
tee will be announced as soon as
those chosen have formally accepted
membership.
1t is to Virginia. however, that will
come not only the distinction of be-
ing the seat of the federal govern
ment's first eastern national park, but
also the wealth of perhaps the great
est tourist trade any State has ever
known, a mighty tide of trade that