Local Coverage of the SNP 75th

Almost as soon as I posted yesterday, the Page News and Courier website went up with a front page article about the 75th Anniversary celebration up in Shenandoah National Park.  The PNC's website refreshes late after the weekly is published on Wednesday, it was because of this tardiness I came to the conclusion they weren't covering it.  After reading the article, reporter Rebecca Armstrong has done a good job on the story, which is important after all to Page County, since park headquarters is located in Luray.

Rebecca's article, linked below, includes a photo of the Roosevelt reenactor, and then there is a great story about local connections to the forming of the park.  She features quotes from local realtor Al Lam, whose grandfather sat next to Roosevelt during the dedication ceremony, and whose family was part of the relocations as the park began forming from land acquisitions.

Armstrong reports something Lam's grandfather said about the park and the relocations:

"I ain't so crazy about leaving these hills, but I never believed in being against the government," said Hezekiah at the age of 85, according to the Virginia Historical Society. "I signed everything they asked me."

I guess that gets to the bottom of what I am trying to learn about the park myself this year.  While to encounter those woods and mountains these days, you wouldn't know how developed they were, and how actively that land was being worked up until the 1930's.  But there remain traces of all that - and of what came before, when this was Native American land. 

There's a lot to enjoy in the solitude and natural beauty about the place, but there is a lot to remember about the human experience here.

The PNC article is here:  http://www.dailynews-record.com/pnc_details.php?AID=58693&CHID=42