Shenandoah National Park Ready to Embark on Year-Long 75th Birthday Celebration

The celebration for Shenandoah National Park's 75th birthday starts next week! Logo from www.celebrateshenandoah.org

You can add Shenandoah National Park to those units of the National Park System that are celebrating milestone birthdays. On November 5 the park that hugs the rippled ridge of the Appalachian Mountains in Virginia will kick off its 75th birthday celebration.

The party will be a long way, running a year. The kickoff will be marked by a ceremony at McCormick Gap Overlook at milepost 102 on Skyline Drive at 2:00 p.m. on November 5.

Shenandoah Superintendent Martha Bogle will receive the “mantle of celebration” from Phil Francis, superintendent of the Blue Ridge Parkway, whose 75th anniversary celebration took place this year. Due to limited space along Skyline Drive, parking for the event will be at Afton Mountain on Route 250, and shuttles will provide transportation to the ceremony at the McCormick Gap Overlook. Shuttle service will begin at 12:30.

The program will feature remarks by Alisa Bailey, president and CEO of the Virginia Tourism Corporation, followed by A Journey Through the Decades, a program marking the milestones of achievements and honoring Shenandoah’s partners. Among the participants will be Matthew Mesher, the great-great grandson of President Herbert Hoover, whose Rapidan Camp retreat lies within what is now the boundary of Shenandoah National Park; Robert Jacobsen, former Shenandoah National Park superintendent; and Mike Breeden, descendent of former residents of the land from which the park was created.

Hammered dulcimer player, Madeline MacNeil will provide entertainment at the overlook from 1:00 until 2:00.

“We are excited about the beginning of this year-long celebration of Shenandoah National Park," said Superintendent Bogle. "We look forward to remembering the vision and dedication of the park’s early supporters, the sacrifice of the residents and landowners, and inspiring a new generation of park stewards.”

For more information about the 75th Anniversary go to www.celebrateshenandoah.org or for more information about the park go to www.nps.gov/shen.

Also celebrating a birthday this year was Glacier National Park, which turned 100.