Skyline Drive Landscape: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Shenandoah National Park

Killion, Jeffrey

Skyline Drive is a 105.5-mile, two-lane scenic park road entirely within the boundaries of Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. The drive is accessible from four entrances. The northernmost entrance is at Front Royal at the junction of U.S. Route 340. The Thornton Gap entrance is situated 31.5 miles south, at the junction of U.S. Route 211. Swift Run Gap is at the junction of U.S. Route 33, another thirty-four miles further south. The southernmost entrance is the Rockfish Gap entrance, 105.5 miles south of Front Royal at the junction with U.S. Route 250 and Interstate 64. The drive traces the top of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which form a natural boundary between the Shenandoah Valley, or the “Great Valley of Virginia,” to the west, and the Piedmont Plain to the east. Skyline Drive was constructed in three phases, namely North District, Central District, and South District. The drive serves as the park’s major road. The high elevation of the drive, as it follows the crest of the Blue Ridge, provides the Shenandoah National Park visitor the opportunity to observe the surrounding scenery from a vantage point 2,500 to 3,000 feet above the valley floor. The drive was designed to provide park visitors with a pleasurable driving experience and a panorama of changing scenery, as well as numerous opportunities to stop to enjoy the views, to climb high peaks, or to explore nearby streams and cascades. Along the drive are wayside stations where motorists can stop for gas and food, parking overlooks which provide scenic views and paths to nearby features and recreational trails, picnic grounds, developed areas providing campgrounds, overnight accommodations, and other visitor services. These contribute to the recreational quality of the road. There were also several maintenance areas built along the drive that utilized preexisting facilities. Skyline Drive and its associated developed areas comprise the Skyline Drive Historic District, which was designated a National Historic Landmark (NHL) District in 2008. Detailed information on the resources in the historic district can be found in twelve separate Cultural Landscape Inventories. They include reports for Big Meadows, Dickey Ridge, Elkwallow, Lewis Mountain, Piney River, Pinnacles Picnic Grounds, Simmons Gap, Skyland, and South River Picnic Grounds. There are also reports for the drive itself: Skyline Drive–North District, Skyline Drive–Central District, and Skyline Drive–South District.

Skyline Drive Landscape: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Shenandoah National Park

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