Evening star., 1936-05-09
Bv ArnO B. Cammerer,
Director. National Park Service.

the road more closely inter-
Y twined with the history and
development of our country
then in the Shenandoah National
Park region in Virginias Blue Ridge
Creation of the national park was
effected last December, when deeds TO
the lands were handed to the Secre-
tarv of the Interior, Harold L. 1ckeS,
by Wilbur c. Hall, chairman OF the
Virginia State Conservation and De-
velopment Commission, and It's pro-
spective dedication next July is of par
ticular interest to the 13500,00O peo-
ple who live within few hours drive
of this gloriously beautiful region.
Park establishment was the culmi-
nation of 10 years of effort, years OF
undaunted courage and of hard work,
for the little group of men who flrst
conceived the plan of acquiring this
mountain playground for the use OF
the people of the country.
Today spectacular and scenic drive
Is under construction, following ap-
proximately the crest of the Blue
Ridge in the park. When finished, the
road within the park will extend from
Front Royal on the north to Jarman
Gap, near Waynesboro, on the south,
where it will some day connect with
the Blue Ridge Parkway, now under
construction. This latter, 500-mlle
parkway, when completed. will con-
meet with the Great Smoky Noun
tains National Park. That portion OF
the highway in the Shenandoah Ma
tional Park between Thornton and
Swift Run Gaps is complete, and work
already is under way on the section
of the north and south.
THE modern roads which make
available to the public this high
ly picturesque area, are in sharp con-
trast to the earlier roads into the re-
gion, over which history came into ex-
preston. For it was through the heart
of the Shenandoah region that sew
eral streams of migration flowed west
ward and southwark. The romance of
the road is written deep in the val
leys and high in the Appalachians,
where crossed the intrepid men and
women who pushed the frontier line
from Virginia to Kentucky and Ohio,
and into the basin of the Mississippi.
The Spottswood Trail, Braddocks,
Forbes, Boones, and the Wilderness
roads saw romance and drudgery,
comedy and tragedy, joy and sorrow,
as the younger members Of the pioneer
families pushed West. answering the
leading calls of new lands. as the
best lands in the East became settled.
A hardy stock they were, these
mighty adventures of Scotch-Irish,
Welsh and German descent, and Of
strong fiber they needed to be, as they
braved the known and unknown perils
Of that early day.
The trails over which these doughty
pioneers passed were not so new as
the pioneers themselves. For elk and
deer had first traversed the virgin
forest. Indians later used these wild
life trails, deepening and broadening
them.
Then came the first pioneers, ahorse
or on foot, to be followed by the
coaches and wagons that ploWed
through the thick mud and over the
mountains to the rich lands beyond.
The Indians did not willingly lend
their roads to the white followers of
the trails, nor were the primitive road
houses along the way always above
dishonesty, so for protection against
both Indians and highwaymen of
their own race the emigrants often
banded together when making the
Journey.
Some of the early advertisements
In the local newspapers of Virginia
are most enIvening. One reads:
'.Notice: A large company will meet
at Crab-Orchard the 10 of November
in order to start through the wilder
ness. AS it is very dangerous on ac-
count of the Indians, it is hoped
that each person will go armed" In
the latter part Of the century parties
were advertised to leave every week or
so in the Summer, but it does not
appear that there was much abate-
ment of travel in the more inclement
months.
DR THOMAS WALKER, in his
journal Of the latter part of the
eighteenth century. gives lively ac-
counts of the vicissitudes of the
day when travel was an adventure
into the great unknown. There was
game a-plenty and not much difficulty
in getting it. But the road itself
rivaled the roads of China. which are
mere gullies, dug deep in the hills and
across the plains.
The trails over the Alleghanies were
beset with difficulties, with danger Of
floods and deeply cut-out bitches, OBJ
structions of great rocks that at times
made them almost impossible. It was
the delight of the road hogs of that
day to keep the center of the road,
de-wheel the coach of the prosperous
looking travellers and then leave them
to repair the damage as best they
could.
The story Of Boone's road is out
standing. Taking everything into