Appalachian Trail - North District: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Shenandoah National Park
NPS Northeast Regional Office. 2026. Appalachian Trail - North District: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Shenandoah National Park. Cultural Landscapes Inventory Report. 975386. National Park Service. NPS Northeast Regional Office, Boston, Massachusetts / CRIS-CL Database
The Appalachian Trail–North District in Shenandoah National Park (NP) is one of three component landscapes, together with the Central District and South District, that comprise the 103-mile long Appalachian Trail (AT) landscape within the 196,000-acre Shenandoah NP. The portion of the AT in Shenandoah NP is part of the 2,175-mile trail that follows the Appalachian Mountains from Georgia to Maine as conceived in 1921 and developed and opened as a continuous trail in 1937. The North District includes twenty-four miles of trail from Possums Rest Overlook, accessed from Skyline Drive at Milepost (MP) 10.4 at the north end of the park near Front Royal, to Thornton Gap at MP 31.3 at Route 211. From the southern end of the North District, the AT continues for another seventy-seven miles south through the Central and South Districts to MP 105.4 on Skyline Drive. The study boundaries of the CLI for the Appalachian Trail (AT)–North District include a twenty-foot wide corridor, tenfeet to either side of the trail’s centerline. This distance was selected because it generally encompasses the constructed features associated with the trail such as retaining walls and signs. Features beyond this corridor were inventoried if they were associated with the construction of the AT, were easily viewed from the trail, or if they were part of the hiking experience (i.e. shelter or view). The trail corridor intersects Skyline Drive, numerous named side trails, and unnamed spur trails that lead to Skyline Drive overlooks, parking areas, rock outcrops, and views. Other trail junctions provide access to historic and non-historic cabins for day or overnight use.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- NPS Northeast Regional Office
- Date of Issue
- 2026
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- NER , SHEN
- Keywords
- Appalachian National Scenic Trail, Blue Ridge Mountains, Civilian Conservation Corps, Community Planning and Development, Conservation, Conservation of Natural resources, Entertainment, hiking trail, Historic Designed Landscape, Historic Preservation, Origin and Development of the National Park Service, Range and Forest Protection, Recreation, Regional planning, Scenic Preservation, Skyline Drive, Social History, The 1930s: Era of Public Works, The Conservation Movement Matures 1908-1941, The Great Depression, The New Deal, Transforming the Environment, Virginia, Wilderness System