Today Michaela and I took a little day trip along Skyline Drive. It’s still early for a change in the foliage, but we decided to go anyway. We ate lunch at the Big Meadows Lodge and then took a little hike. We saw a number of deer, one of which came within 5-feet of Michaela before crossing a road. We also checked out the Visitors Center and there history exhibit. My knowledge of the history of the Shenandoah National Park is minimal so I took advantage of the exhibit. I was struck by one exhibit which outlined segregation in the Park. Even in an isolated place such as the Shenandoah Valley authorities felt it necessary to keep the races separated. On the drive home the absurdity of it all hit me. People travel to this site to experience multiple species co-existing in their natural habitats and our own species fails miserably at it. Additional pics here.
A Nice Day for a Drive
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Philip, — Actually, integration of the park began early in 1939 and was completed by 1950. Much of this had to do with the determination of Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes.
Interesting. Other than the gift shop I didn’t look around the visitors’ centre at Big Meadows when I was hiking in Shenandoah this summer, so I was unaware of that aspect of its history. T
Did they say when they desegregated the parK?