The National Park System and the Historic American Past: A Brief Overview and Reflection
Sellars RW. 2007. The National Park System and the Historic American Past: A Brief Overview and Reflection. Washington, D.C.
The trip to Shenandoah ON AN EARLY APRIL MORNING IN 1933, a heavily guarded motorcade carrying President Franklin D. Roosevelt made its way through the pastoral beauty of the Virginia Piedmont to the rugged mountains of Shenandoah National Park, about 90 miles west of Washington, D.C. Its destination was a rustic camp in the woods along the upper Rapidan River that Roosevelt wanted to inspect for use as a retreat from the constant pressure and stifling summer heat he would have to contend with in the nation’s capital. His predecessor, Herbert Hoover, an avid trout fisherman, had built the rustic fishing camp beginning in the late 1920s. However, upon visiting the camp the newly inaugurated president, crippled by polio and dependent on leg braces and a wheelchair, found the terrain around the buildings too rough and decided against using the place. Nevertheless, Roosevelt, who loved automobile touring, thoroughly enjoyed the drive through the Virginia landscape on a beautiful spring day and the chance to relax and visit with friends, including several officials of his new administration. Eleanor Roosevelt had ridden up with her husband, and the new First Lady hosted a picnic at the Hoover camp. In the afternoon the motorcade headed back to Washington—a trip that would mark a decisive turning point in the historic preservation activities of the federal government, especially the National Park Service.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Sellars, Richard
- Date of Issue
- 2007
- Units
- HIST
- Keywords
- American, American Past, Cultural Resource, Cultural Resources, ehistory, History, Management, National Park, National Park System, NPS, past, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Progress, Roosevelt, Shenandoah