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Shenandoah: A Story of Conservation and Betrayal
For fifteen years Sue Eisenfeld hiked in Shenandoah National Park in the Virginia Blue Ridge Mountains, unaware of the tragic history behind the creation of the park. In this travel narrative, she tells the story of her on-the-ground discovery of the relics and memories a few thousand mountain residents left behind when the government used eminent domain to kick the people off their land to create the park. With historic maps and notes from hikers who explored before her, Eisenfeld and her husband hike, backpack, and bushwhack the hills and the hollows of this beloved but misbegotten place, searching for stories. Descendants recount memories of their ancestors “grieving themselves to death,” and they continue to speak of their people’s displacement from the land as an untold national tragedy. A Story of Conservation and Betrayal is Eisenfeld’s personal journey into the park’s hidden past based on her off-trail explorations. She describes the turmoil of residents’ removal as well as the human face of the government officials behind the formation of the park. In this conflict between conservation for the benefit of a nation and private land ownership, she explores her own complicated personal relationship with the park—a relationship she would not have without the heartbreak of the thousands of people removed from their homes.
214 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 1, 2015
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November 21, 2023
Shenandoah National Park in Virginia is today a jewel in the crown of the U.S.A.'s national park system. Each year, almost 1.5 million people visit Shenandoah – to motor along Skyline Drive, to enjoy the views from Hawksbill Mountain and the Pinnacles Overlook, to marvel at the White Oak Canyon waterfalls, to do some fishing at Rapidan Camp or stay at the Massanutten Lodge. Yet the placid feel of Shenandoah National Park conceals some difficult history, as Sue Eisenfeld reveals in her book Shenandoah.
Eisenfeld, a free-lance writer who also teaches in Johns Hopkins University’s M.A. in Writing program, frames Shenandoah with an explanation of how she came to be something of a latter-day hiker and camper. A Philadelphia city girl by birth and upbringing, she had had no interest in such outdoor avocations until she met and fell in love with Neil, the man who became her husband. As for many avid Mid-Atlantic hikers, so for the Eisenfelds, Shenandoah was, so to speak, a “natural” choice for regular hiking, with its proximity to the Washington, D.C., area. But as Eisenfeld came to find, the Shenandoah region’s closeness to cities like Washington and Baltimore had everything to do with the grimmer aspects of how Shenandoah National Park came to be – including factors that explain why Eisenfeld subtitles her book A Story of Conservation and Betrayal.
Finding artifacts and structures that provided evidence of the park’s former residents made Eisenfeld curious to find out more about the people who lived in the region before it was a national park. She learned that, as national parks in the American West drew thousands of tourists back in the early 20th century, state and local leaders in the Eastern U.S.A. likewise wanted to get in on the action. In Virginia, the Shenandoah region readily came to mind as an area that could easily draw visitors from the great Eastern cities not far away. The federal government was amenable to the idea – but made clear that acquiring land from the people who already lived there would be the state’s problem.
A man named William Carson was chosen by Virginia Governor Harry F. Byrd to run the commission that would oversee the process by which the Commonwealth of Virginia would acquire the land needed for the park, prior to turning the park over to the federal government. One potential obstacle, of course, was that there were people already living on that land, a number of whom were not willing to move at any price.
In response to that challenge, Carson pushed a blanket condemnation law through the Virginia General Assembly in 1928 – meaning that the commonwealth could “take all the properties at once, in each of eight counties, by right of eminent domain” (p. 57). Eisenfeld denounces this action by “Carson and his commission, and the governor and the state and the local business community – all of whom acted as though the mountain people, the mountain homes, and the mountain culture were dispensable when they decided on a park location without considering the residents or including them in deliberations” (p. 58).
What this meant, in practice, is that those residents who did not want to leave the land on which their families had lived for generations were forcibly evicted. The government paid what it considered a fair market price – and then sculpted a park that emphasized the natural beauty of the Shenandoah mountain region, while in effect making it look as though the people who had been expelled from the land had never lived there. As one descendant of an evicted Shenandoah family put it to Eisenfeld, “A whole way of life was destroyed. They had their own culture, their own beliefs, their own codes, and now it’s totally gone….I feel like an orphan” (p. 150).
Eisenfeld provides some nice, evocative description of the Shenandoah landscape, both natural and human-crafted. When Eisenfeld visits the Via family cemetery, one of the many family cemeteries and other properties that were overrun by eminent domain when the park was established, she focuses on the cemetery, with its graves of Via family members buried there between 1881 and 1940 – “The markers themselves…appear to be in motion, no longer standing perfectly upright, no longer parallel to one another, as a field of granite headstones would stand in a modern cemetery. Like crooked teeth in a mouth, some lean forward, some lean back, some have fallen over completely, some are broken. The scene is cartoonlike in its haphazardness, yet serene and lovely nevertheless” (p. 100).
At the same time, Eisenfeld keeps her focus on the difficulties of Shenandoah’s history, telling in this case the story of how then 51-year-old Robert H. Via responded when the Commonwealth assessed his property at $3,230, cut him a check, and condemned the property, through eminent domain, for inclusion in the park. Via filed suit in Harrisonburg’s U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, and in the District of Columbia Supreme Court as well. Via even took his case to the U.S. Supreme Court, but lost at every level; and “In honorable defeat, he moved to Pennsylvania permanently, rebuilt his fortune on a hog and dairy farm, and, out of principle, never cashed the check from the government for his land” (p. 102).
That lost history of what is now Shenandoah National Park is now in process of recovery. As Eisenfeld recounts, a woman named Lisa Berry founded in 1994 a group called Children of Shenandoah, the goal of which is “to preserve the heritage and culture of the people who once lived inside what is now the park – the life and times of a culture wiped off the map” (p. 150).
The group’s efforts do seem to have borne some fruit. Times were when The Gift, the introductory video shown to Shenandoah National Park visitors at the park’s visitor center, “perpetrated the idea of the property as a gift and depicted the mountain residents as poor, illiterate, filthy barefoot hillbillies” (pp. 100-01), and as despoilers of their environment as well. I have not seen the original version of The Gift, but the current version is available on YouTube, and it does allude, gently, to the idea that there were people on the land before the park was founded, and that not all of them left willingly or happily.
Shenandoah: A Story of Conservation and Betrayal makes clear that there is no going back; there is no option of closing the park and retroactively inviting all the evicted families to move back into the region and restore their way of life. But Eisenfeld at least wants visitors to the park to be aware of the human cost of the park’s establishment – and to apply those lessons to future public-policy initiatives. This book does get the reader thinking about such issues – and looking at the beauty of Shenandoah National Park in new ways.
Eisenfeld, a free-lance writer who also teaches in Johns Hopkins University’s M.A. in Writing program, frames Shenandoah with an explanation of how she came to be something of a latter-day hiker and camper. A Philadelphia city girl by birth and upbringing, she had had no interest in such outdoor avocations until she met and fell in love with Neil, the man who became her husband. As for many avid Mid-Atlantic hikers, so for the Eisenfelds, Shenandoah was, so to speak, a “natural” choice for regular hiking, with its proximity to the Washington, D.C., area. But as Eisenfeld came to find, the Shenandoah region’s closeness to cities like Washington and Baltimore had everything to do with the grimmer aspects of how Shenandoah National Park came to be – including factors that explain why Eisenfeld subtitles her book A Story of Conservation and Betrayal.
Finding artifacts and structures that provided evidence of the park’s former residents made Eisenfeld curious to find out more about the people who lived in the region before it was a national park. She learned that, as national parks in the American West drew thousands of tourists back in the early 20th century, state and local leaders in the Eastern U.S.A. likewise wanted to get in on the action. In Virginia, the Shenandoah region readily came to mind as an area that could easily draw visitors from the great Eastern cities not far away. The federal government was amenable to the idea – but made clear that acquiring land from the people who already lived there would be the state’s problem.
A man named William Carson was chosen by Virginia Governor Harry F. Byrd to run the commission that would oversee the process by which the Commonwealth of Virginia would acquire the land needed for the park, prior to turning the park over to the federal government. One potential obstacle, of course, was that there were people already living on that land, a number of whom were not willing to move at any price.
In response to that challenge, Carson pushed a blanket condemnation law through the Virginia General Assembly in 1928 – meaning that the commonwealth could “take all the properties at once, in each of eight counties, by right of eminent domain” (p. 57). Eisenfeld denounces this action by “Carson and his commission, and the governor and the state and the local business community – all of whom acted as though the mountain people, the mountain homes, and the mountain culture were dispensable when they decided on a park location without considering the residents or including them in deliberations” (p. 58).
What this meant, in practice, is that those residents who did not want to leave the land on which their families had lived for generations were forcibly evicted. The government paid what it considered a fair market price – and then sculpted a park that emphasized the natural beauty of the Shenandoah mountain region, while in effect making it look as though the people who had been expelled from the land had never lived there. As one descendant of an evicted Shenandoah family put it to Eisenfeld, “A whole way of life was destroyed. They had their own culture, their own beliefs, their own codes, and now it’s totally gone….I feel like an orphan” (p. 150).
Eisenfeld provides some nice, evocative description of the Shenandoah landscape, both natural and human-crafted. When Eisenfeld visits the Via family cemetery, one of the many family cemeteries and other properties that were overrun by eminent domain when the park was established, she focuses on the cemetery, with its graves of Via family members buried there between 1881 and 1940 – “The markers themselves…appear to be in motion, no longer standing perfectly upright, no longer parallel to one another, as a field of granite headstones would stand in a modern cemetery. Like crooked teeth in a mouth, some lean forward, some lean back, some have fallen over completely, some are broken. The scene is cartoonlike in its haphazardness, yet serene and lovely nevertheless” (p. 100).
At the same time, Eisenfeld keeps her focus on the difficulties of Shenandoah’s history, telling in this case the story of how then 51-year-old Robert H. Via responded when the Commonwealth assessed his property at $3,230, cut him a check, and condemned the property, through eminent domain, for inclusion in the park. Via filed suit in Harrisonburg’s U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, and in the District of Columbia Supreme Court as well. Via even took his case to the U.S. Supreme Court, but lost at every level; and “In honorable defeat, he moved to Pennsylvania permanently, rebuilt his fortune on a hog and dairy farm, and, out of principle, never cashed the check from the government for his land” (p. 102).
That lost history of what is now Shenandoah National Park is now in process of recovery. As Eisenfeld recounts, a woman named Lisa Berry founded in 1994 a group called Children of Shenandoah, the goal of which is “to preserve the heritage and culture of the people who once lived inside what is now the park – the life and times of a culture wiped off the map” (p. 150).
The group’s efforts do seem to have borne some fruit. Times were when The Gift, the introductory video shown to Shenandoah National Park visitors at the park’s visitor center, “perpetrated the idea of the property as a gift and depicted the mountain residents as poor, illiterate, filthy barefoot hillbillies” (pp. 100-01), and as despoilers of their environment as well. I have not seen the original version of The Gift, but the current version is available on YouTube, and it does allude, gently, to the idea that there were people on the land before the park was founded, and that not all of them left willingly or happily.
Shenandoah: A Story of Conservation and Betrayal makes clear that there is no going back; there is no option of closing the park and retroactively inviting all the evicted families to move back into the region and restore their way of life. But Eisenfeld at least wants visitors to the park to be aware of the human cost of the park’s establishment – and to apply those lessons to future public-policy initiatives. This book does get the reader thinking about such issues – and looking at the beauty of Shenandoah National Park in new ways.
December 31, 2019
Thoughts soon.
October 15, 2019
This book dispels a myth that we heard during our recent, first visit to Shenandoah. We were told by a park volunteer that the people in the area were happy to give up their homes for the establishment of the national park because of the economic impact the park would have. Not necessarily so!
I enjoyed reading about the beginnings of the park and about the people who inhabited the area, but was dismayed by the controversy regarding responsibility for displacing the families and implementation strategies. I enjoyed reading about the author's hikes into the park, but didn't appreciate her "bushwhacking" tactics as I firmly believe that park visitors should stay on the trails. I was caught off guard by the revelation of William E. Carson's story, the only character to be developed; more people/stories could have received more attention.
A few parts of the book were slow reading, but for the most part it flowed well and was easy to read. However, beware of a few very long, convoluted, complex sentences; I had to read some of them more than once.
I enjoyed reading about the beginnings of the park and about the people who inhabited the area, but was dismayed by the controversy regarding responsibility for displacing the families and implementation strategies. I enjoyed reading about the author's hikes into the park, but didn't appreciate her "bushwhacking" tactics as I firmly believe that park visitors should stay on the trails. I was caught off guard by the revelation of William E. Carson's story, the only character to be developed; more people/stories could have received more attention.
A few parts of the book were slow reading, but for the most part it flowed well and was easy to read. However, beware of a few very long, convoluted, complex sentences; I had to read some of them more than once.
November 23, 2015
My awareness of the lost residents of Shenandoah National Park begins at the same place as Eisenfeld's tale -- on the Jones Mountain Trail. I didn't make it to Jones Mountain Cabin, but did become increasingly aware of the abandoned rock walls and other traces all around me. Although this short, vividly drawn book doesn't tell the entire story of how homesteads turned into a vast recreation and natural area, it does challenge us to think, wherever we walk, about who was here before us and what they gave up so that we could enjoy the spaces available to us. And I'm grateful she didn't include maps, because this is not a how-to book for bushwhackers.
August 22, 2019
Wonderful research by one not directly connected to the displaced
Sue Eisenfeld truly walked the walk through trail hiking, bushwhacking, and thorough research. When she writes of the Old Rag mountain environs, Criglarsville, and so forth, it's close enough to my heart to cause a little eye leakage for all of my paternal relations lands/lifestyle lost to the SNP. Daddy would not step foot in it and didn't wish to talk about it as his beloved Grandmother Sevilla Bowen (nee Nethers) has been so affected. So, mama explained why daddy would not come the few times she took me & my sister there.
Sue Eisenfeld truly walked the walk through trail hiking, bushwhacking, and thorough research. When she writes of the Old Rag mountain environs, Criglarsville, and so forth, it's close enough to my heart to cause a little eye leakage for all of my paternal relations lands/lifestyle lost to the SNP. Daddy would not step foot in it and didn't wish to talk about it as his beloved Grandmother Sevilla Bowen (nee Nethers) has been so affected. So, mama explained why daddy would not come the few times she took me & my sister there.
July 26, 2024
I really enjoyed this book. I read it to my husband on the way home from Virginia, where we'd been at family reunions, one of which was in Shenandoah National Park. I've been wanting to read more about the forced displacement of residents of the land which became Shenandoah National Park since I learned about my cousin's play called "Can't Feel At Home," which deals with this history. My cousin, Dr. John Glick, died of Parkinson's disease in January of 2023, and had written this play some 25 years ago after hearing many stories from his patients about those residents. It has had several runs in Harrisonburg at the Court Square Theater in the recent past, and I hear it is well worth seeing and "a tearjerker," according to another of my cousins. Hopefully one day I can see it as well.
In any case, this book did not disappoint, being something of a memoir of a woman who has spent hours and hours looking for cemeteries, house foundations, and items left behind by the residents displaced by the establishment of Shenandoah National Park. I greatly appreciate having a fuller picture of this beautiful national park.
I came close to giving this book a 5 star rating, but it bothered me a little bit not to have her mention the original displaced inhabitants of that area, indigenous peoples, except for once or twice in passing. I know that wasn't what she was writing about, but I would have preferred to have them acknowledged at least a little bit.
In any case, this book did not disappoint, being something of a memoir of a woman who has spent hours and hours looking for cemeteries, house foundations, and items left behind by the residents displaced by the establishment of Shenandoah National Park. I greatly appreciate having a fuller picture of this beautiful national park.
I came close to giving this book a 5 star rating, but it bothered me a little bit not to have her mention the original displaced inhabitants of that area, indigenous peoples, except for once or twice in passing. I know that wasn't what she was writing about, but I would have preferred to have them acknowledged at least a little bit.
March 23, 2025
It was cool reading about the history of some areas that I grew up in. There was a lot of focus on skyline Drive and the Old Rag area.
But wow I did not like how this author presented information. They were definitely passionate about exploring the history and talking to people. They tried to intertwine their hikes and discoveries with a history of the area and…failed hard. I thought the segues were awful and you would jump from an account of say, finding a cemetery, to a textbook description of what happened in the early 1900’s. There was no apparent thought to keeping a chronological story. I feel like the historical stories jumped around and I could barely keep a timeline of all that happened.
The author was also not as outdoorsy as her companions, and her companions were frequently the ones finding the things they were looking for and helping her get through the rough conditions. Again she was passionate but this just came across as odd. She literally quit her job to do this.
I just don’t think this book hits the way I expected it too. I thought there would be a unique perspective. There are other, better, books that accomplish what this author tries to do.
But wow I did not like how this author presented information. They were definitely passionate about exploring the history and talking to people. They tried to intertwine their hikes and discoveries with a history of the area and…failed hard. I thought the segues were awful and you would jump from an account of say, finding a cemetery, to a textbook description of what happened in the early 1900’s. There was no apparent thought to keeping a chronological story. I feel like the historical stories jumped around and I could barely keep a timeline of all that happened.
The author was also not as outdoorsy as her companions, and her companions were frequently the ones finding the things they were looking for and helping her get through the rough conditions. Again she was passionate but this just came across as odd. She literally quit her job to do this.
I just don’t think this book hits the way I expected it too. I thought there would be a unique perspective. There are other, better, books that accomplish what this author tries to do.
July 15, 2024
This is not, as the book title implies, just a retelling of the founding history of the park. This is a touching memoir of the author’s experiences in the Shenandoah National Park, as informed by her interest in its cultural history.
In a crisp, companionable style akin to the late Tony Horowitz (whose recommendation appears on the paperback edition), Sue Eisenfeld asks us to tag along on hikes- through snow, streams, up steep inclines- in the quest to find hidden reminders of the lives lived and displaced in the Blue Ridge.
We join a mixed group of fellow hikers, including her bushwhacking spouse, tackling the terrain.
We revisit the 1930s and an array of oft misrepresented mountain residents and the change agents in politics, tourism, and conservation whose actions lead to their dramatic uprooting.
We stand beside her as she marvels the Shenandoah Park’s stunning vistas as well as reminders of lives ( and cemeteries) forever altered by its creation.
Our hike up Old Rag, or ride on Skyline Drive, is forever changed.
In a crisp, companionable style akin to the late Tony Horowitz (whose recommendation appears on the paperback edition), Sue Eisenfeld asks us to tag along on hikes- through snow, streams, up steep inclines- in the quest to find hidden reminders of the lives lived and displaced in the Blue Ridge.
We join a mixed group of fellow hikers, including her bushwhacking spouse, tackling the terrain.
We revisit the 1930s and an array of oft misrepresented mountain residents and the change agents in politics, tourism, and conservation whose actions lead to their dramatic uprooting.
We stand beside her as she marvels the Shenandoah Park’s stunning vistas as well as reminders of lives ( and cemeteries) forever altered by its creation.
Our hike up Old Rag, or ride on Skyline Drive, is forever changed.
April 3, 2024
Intrigued a few years ago by the surprisingly candid history of the Shenandoah National Park found in its visitor center display, I was interested in learning more about the families removed from their homes to create the park in the 1930s. This book explores that history by focusing upon the author’s off-trail explorations of the abandoned homesites in the park and the history of several specific families uprooted by park development. The author also reflects on the man who was the primary mover who created the park, William Carson, and how he felt about the victims of park development. The author also notes that some families were happy to be relocated and compensated, as they moved to better farmland. And a few families of elderly residents were allowed to remain in the park until their deaths, though the criteria for selecting those lucky ones seems unclear.
But many (58%) who lived there and who did not own title to their land, were displaced without compensation, much to their distress.
One main idea that I felt was missing here was the similarity of the story if these displaced families to that of the Native Americans, who were also labeled as “savages” and moved out in the name of progress. All in all, I’ll never again enjoy Shenandoah National Park without also thinking of the families- and the Native Americans before them - who once lived there.
But many (58%) who lived there and who did not own title to their land, were displaced without compensation, much to their distress.
One main idea that I felt was missing here was the similarity of the story if these displaced families to that of the Native Americans, who were also labeled as “savages” and moved out in the name of progress. All in all, I’ll never again enjoy Shenandoah National Park without also thinking of the families- and the Native Americans before them - who once lived there.
May 21, 2024
*3.5
Overall, I really enjoyed this! I do wish there was a little more meat here. While she provided excellent historical context and clearly did research into the history of these lands, going so far as to provide histories back to the 17th and 18th centuries, I think it was lacking in important areas. This account glosses over the fact that these lands were stolen much earlier in history. She notes it but doesn’t spend any appreciable time on the matter. This is likely just telling of a lack of historical documentation of that time period and of white settlers stealing native lands in the first place, but it felt glaring given how emotional the tale of how the federal government stole from the ‘mountain folk’ was. I really enjoyed the perspective on William Carson, and honestly I feel like that would be a great biography to tell the tale of Shenandoah through. Regardless of the meat I felt was lacking, this was a well-written and at times poetic reminiscence on the creation of a cornerstone National Park. I enjoyed her writing, research, and her trail tales. I especially loved her penchant for the past - it’s one I share with her in earnest.
Overall, I really enjoyed this! I do wish there was a little more meat here. While she provided excellent historical context and clearly did research into the history of these lands, going so far as to provide histories back to the 17th and 18th centuries, I think it was lacking in important areas. This account glosses over the fact that these lands were stolen much earlier in history. She notes it but doesn’t spend any appreciable time on the matter. This is likely just telling of a lack of historical documentation of that time period and of white settlers stealing native lands in the first place, but it felt glaring given how emotional the tale of how the federal government stole from the ‘mountain folk’ was. I really enjoyed the perspective on William Carson, and honestly I feel like that would be a great biography to tell the tale of Shenandoah through. Regardless of the meat I felt was lacking, this was a well-written and at times poetic reminiscence on the creation of a cornerstone National Park. I enjoyed her writing, research, and her trail tales. I especially loved her penchant for the past - it’s one I share with her in earnest.
September 18, 2016
Intellectually it is interesting to read about people who were displaced to create a national park. But the curiosity I had about this was never really quenched. It was - probably obviously to other people - focused on the people who inhabited the park immediately before it was taken / bought by the government. And also probably obviously it was like a big long tramping story. Not for me.
April 14, 2019
Having read Darwin Lambert's 'The Undying Past Of Shenandoah National Park', I admit to being disappointed by this book. I expected, somehow more, or new material. I did enjoy the partial exoneration of William Carson. Of all the book's characters, his was most fully developed and could potentially be a biography worth moving ahead with. Still, it tells a story of well-known resentment, as anyone displaced from a beautiful locale would feel. I, for one, have hiked the hollows in winter, struggled to find firewood around a primitive cabin, and imagined what it would have been like to live in such a place when all the large game had been killed and the trees were dying. I've wondered what kind of effect the Depression had on land values, and would be interested in knowing who gave burn orders. Maybe in the next tome.
August 8, 2020
I had no idea the dark part of Shennendoah’s history and for that I am grateful to have read this book. Part history, mostly memoir, the book made me struggle with the contrast between the value of public good and the pain of private loss. As a strong advocate for public lands, I tend toward espousing the benefits of public good over private loss; however, the book shows that often those greatly impacted by the creation of this public benefit are the most vulnerable. A worthy, quick read for lovers of Shennendoah, the national parks, and all public land.
July 9, 2018
If you're looking for a thorough historical work on the removal of residents from the area that is now Shenandoah National Park and all of the the misinformation, treachery, and skullduggery that were involved, this book isn't it. I vacillated between enjoying the back-and-forth approach between the author's experiences in the park and the research she provided and concluding that she was hitting Peak White Woman to make the story of a destruction of a people and way of life All About Her. She also provided a touch of the Noble Savage (in this case, white mountain folk) on the side. But, I have to give her credit for lovely writing.
May 7, 2019
I am a transplanted resident to Greene County Virginia. My family and I began a quest to solve a mystery: “What are those Chimneys just standing there for?” I am referring to the stone chimney monuments that appear in each county of Virginia that has families that were unceremoniously displaced by the creation of The Shenandoah National Park. The truth of the park will shock you. The beauty of the park will take your breath away, The History of the park on its face and in its hidden stories will amaze you. I have a new found respect for this area in which my family finds itself. The mountains, the trees, the bears, and all the proud “mountain folk” represented in the story of Shenandoah.
July 30, 2025
As a life long camper and hiker in Shenandoah National Park, I found this book fascinating. I’ve often wondered about those who inhabited those woods before it became a park. Where the names of the hollows and peaks and passes came from. Marveled at the remnants of a world that once was. It was wonderful reading this book and learning more about it. Especially as I leave tomorrow for a 4 day/3 night camping trip at Big Meadows!
December 11, 2020
We spent quite a bit of time this year hiking in Shenandoah, so this was a very interesting read. A bit sad and haunting...doesn't diminish my love for the park, but did create in me a deeper sense of respect and grief for those who had to give up their land and homes during the time of the park's creation.
April 29, 2023
Sue Eisenfeld writes about her hikes in the Shenandoah National Park, learning the stories of the people who lived there prior to the government using eminent domain to create the park. I loved her perspective and stores about her hiking explorations. Great read for anyone who loves hiking and history.
July 10, 2021
I loved this book about the remaining traces of the displaced people of Shenandoah National Park. It was so intriguing I wanted to hike along with the author, or go myself, although I take seriously her warnings about off-trail hiking. I wished for more when I reached the acknowledgements page!
June 22, 2023
Opened my eyes to the history of a national park I’ve lived close to for most of my life. The details on the founding and the park and of the former residents were fascinating. I wish she’d spent more time on it and less on personal hiking anecdotes.
December 20, 2018
Interesting from a hikers point of view.
June 19, 2020
An interesting book that shows the untold story of the rise of Shenandoah National Park.
July 16, 2021
the story of the conception and establishment of Shenandoah National Park and the effect on the mountain people who lived there and were forced off their land.
March 8, 2023
Enjoyed the book and learned a lot about the history. I am excited to visit the park this spring because this book helped me learn about the area.
December 6, 2024
More of a popular work than an academical one, but good nonetheless. Really liked the narrative approach of including oral histories/generational storytelling.
October 24, 2024
As a yearly visitor of Shenandoah I appreciated learning history of the park and region, of which I was previously unaware. I would have been interested in more discussion about the nuanced arguments for and against the park and perhaps some comparison to how other parks were formed. I’m glad I read it but I did find it a bit dry.
February 9, 2022
A book on the cultural history of the Shenandoah valleys and region. Cemeteries, old home sites, off-trail adventures make this informative book about the political importance of this National park, a great read. Bear fecal plugs, a woman named Cricket, and unknown facts form a realistic perspective about what ingredients made Shenandoah what it is. This book is honest and well-researched. I’d still like to visit the region even though it is fraught with unacceptable abuses and prejudices for its creation. It’s also interesting to learn what role the CCC played in the making of Shenandoah.
FAVORITE QUOTE:
Pg. 117
“Being here, this real place in real life where people
lived and died and where they were never allowed to
return, at a destination hard to find and where we'll
probably never come again, makes me feel alive with
longing and love and life, makes me thirsty to move forward toward all that I have left to learn and live, here in this park and everywhere else. I have trusted Neil in leading us here, and in the process, I have come closer to trusting myself again. I am alive and hiking and relishing my body again-synapses, sensation, muscles, and movement. This body that I didn't know, this body that had abandoned me, this body (like land, I suppose-the only precious thing I'll ever own) had come back.
FAVORITE QUOTE:
Pg. 117
“Being here, this real place in real life where people
lived and died and where they were never allowed to
return, at a destination hard to find and where we'll
probably never come again, makes me feel alive with
longing and love and life, makes me thirsty to move forward toward all that I have left to learn and live, here in this park and everywhere else. I have trusted Neil in leading us here, and in the process, I have come closer to trusting myself again. I am alive and hiking and relishing my body again-synapses, sensation, muscles, and movement. This body that I didn't know, this body that had abandoned me, this body (like land, I suppose-the only precious thing I'll ever own) had come back.
January 3, 2025
A moving, personal narrative on an important, shameful chapter in American history -- the displacement of mountain people in the making of Shenandoah National Park. Eisenfeld foregrounds the personal stories and recent events of the 20th century, which deserve this kind of in-depth attention. She works deeply and truly within the stated confines of her narrative, acknowledging but not exploring how the history of displacement in the Shenandoah region goes all the way back to the European settlement of Virginia and dispossession of Native Americans of this same land.
Eisenfeld's book is an act of simple witness (though, what true act of witness can ever be simple?), as she locates herself and her growing understanding of the consumerist, classist, and capitalist underpinnings of one of America's great natural public parks. It is a delicate and risky act, to try to critique a system from which one benefits. She accomplishes the goal of bringing history's complexities and perplexities to life with humility and honesty.
Eisenfeld's book is an act of simple witness (though, what true act of witness can ever be simple?), as she locates herself and her growing understanding of the consumerist, classist, and capitalist underpinnings of one of America's great natural public parks. It is a delicate and risky act, to try to critique a system from which one benefits. She accomplishes the goal of bringing history's complexities and perplexities to life with humility and honesty.
October 13, 2015
A sensationalized story of a national park's formation. Most of the book is a travelogue of the author's various treks to the park's lesser-visited areas to churn up rotting remnants that belonged to the former residents. Sure, it's a shame that so many people were displaced. But she focuses way too much on the sad stories of those who didn't want to leave rather rather than taking a wider view and providing insight into the positive social and economic impacts the park has had on the area. Her very biased take on the park's planners failed to offer much context into how they viewed the project. It's good that someone is telling these stories, but there is too much melodrama and not enough impartiality.
July 6, 2015
Why would you wish to explore the back trails of this gem of a Park? To find the land occupied for generations by the folks who brewed, grew, mined, wove and labored at the resorts that this land occupied. But in the mid-30s the Govt took this land and sent checks to the owners. This is the story of what they left behind including how they lived. The author has interviewed two generations post-hence , to find out what really used to happen in these hollows.
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