Shenandoah National Park

Shenandoah National Park
Skyline Drive
Coordinates: 38 ° 30 ′ 55 "  N , 78 ° 26 ′ 15"  W.
Location:	Virginia , United States
Next city:	Waynesboro, Virginia
Surface:	806.27 km²
Founding:	December 26, 1935
Visitors:	1,264,880 (2018)
Address:	Shenandoah National Park

The US National Park Shenandoah National Park covers about 800 square kilometers of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the southern Appalachian Mountains near the Piedmond plateau in Virginia . It is a narrow corridor of densely wooded ridges and forests with numerous rivers and waterfalls with a wide valley on each side. The highest peaks, Stony Man and Hawksbill, are over 1,200 feet high.

Attractions

The Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway are the most famous streets in the park. Skyline Drive runs 170 km along the ridge through the entire park. The Appalachian Trail runs 160 km through the park. There are around 800 kilometers of hiking trails in the park. There are opportunities to go horse riding, camping, cycling and visiting the ten waterfalls.

nature

Mammals are native to the white-tailed deer , American black bear , bobcat , raccoon , skunk , northern opossum , red and gray fox and Florida cottontail .

Over 200 species of birds live in the park, around 30 of which overwinter here. 32 species of fish live in the park's waters.

The tree population consists of oak , hickory , chestnut and willow . The American chestnut , once predominant here , was attacked by chestnut crayfish at the beginning of the 20th century and was threatened with extinction for a long time. The tree continues to grow after the fungal attack, but dies before it bears fruit for the first time. Various types of oak trees have subsequently replaced the chestnut and have become the dominant tree species in the park.

In the 1990s, the oak forests were then attacked by the caterpillars of the gypsy moth, which has since decimated the forest in the national park by almost 10 percent. Especially in the north of the park, large areas with deciduous trees are evidence of this infestation.

history

The oldest rocks are over 1,000,000 years old. The first people came to the area 10,000 years ago. In 1750, settlers cultivated the land. In the early 20th century, it was first discussed whether a national park should be established in the east of the USA. Shenandoah National Park was established in 1935. At the beginning, most of the park was accessible "only to whites" in accordance with the principle of separate but equal . After the Second World War, the principle of racial segregation was abolished. From 1950 the park was open to the general public.

Web links

Commons : Shenandoah National Park  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

• National Park Service: Shenandoah National Park (official site; English)
• US National Parks Net: Shenandoah National Park (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Over hill and dale . Travel report. Travel-in-Nature travel magazine: http://www.travel-in-nature.de/index.php/reisepecials/specials-qoutdoor-reise/184-wandern-auf-dem-appalachian-trail-im-shenandoah-nationalpark -virginia , last paragraph, accessed November 30, 2013
2. ↑ Segregation / Desegregation (Eng.)