Despite having been planned as an eastern version of the great western national parks, and sitting within a day’s drive of millions of East Coast dwellers, somehow Shenandoah National Park was one that we had not managed to add to our list of national parks visited. Until now, making it #33. After completing our northbound journey along the Blue Ridge Parkway we immediately got to work exploring the park that sits at the northern terminus.
National Park Explorations
Similar to the Blue Ridge Parkway, Shenandoah is a green ribbon of varying widths surrounding a central drive, Skyline Drive. At 100 miles long, straddling the ridgeline of the Blue Ridge Mountains throughout the park, Skyline Drive is the defining feature of the park and the visitor experience. Most hiking in the park comes in one of two flavors: steep hike up from the road to a mountain peak, or steep hike down from the road to a waterfall. We were surprised to discover that the Blue Ridge elevations in Shenandoah are quite a bit lower than in North Carolina. Hawksbill Mountain, the highest point in the park, just barely tops 4,000 feet above sea level, while Mount Mitchell in North Carolina is well over 6,500 feet. Lower elevations means higher temperatures, and we strongly prefer to end a hike on a downhill slope. The result of these calculations was the choice to take all our hikes in the form of hiking up in search of elevation.
On different days we explored three different trails in different areas of the park. During the afternoon that we arrived in the park, we checked out the Blackrock Summit in the southerly section of the park. The next day we ventured north to take on the Hawsbill Summit Loop. Finally, we stayed close to the center of the park to hike the Hightop Peak Trail. All three hikes included sections of the Appalachian Trail, and all offered very nice views over the bucolic Shenandoah Valley.
Our journey to the various trailheads included plenty of stops at scenic overlooks along the way. All these stops, along with the speed limit of 35 mph on Skyline Drive, made it hard to cover the entire 100-mile length of the park. We managed to drive the southern 2/3 of the park, essentially everything south of the Pinnacles Overlook. Driving in Shenandoah after the Blue Ridge was an interesting experience. Both are engineered very similarly, but the Blue Ridge has a speed limit of 45 mph, and we found it hard to stay within the limit at Shenandoah after a week of driving a very similar road at much higher speeds. In our considered opinion, the optimal speed for traveling both roads is 42 mph. But sadly no one is asking us to set national park speed limits.
Lodging
Given the layout of the park, we were very happy with our decision to stay near the mid-point. In researching the area, it seemed that the communities on the eastern side of the park (closer to the major population centers of Virginia/DC) are a little tonier and more expensive than the western side. We were thrilled to find a great little Airbnb rental in Elkton, located on the west side of the park in the Shenandoah Valley. We were an easy 10-minute drive from the park’s central entrance station, and while the town was not exactly a booming metropolis it had plenty of restaurants with hearty food that really hit the spot after a day of hiking. We were particularly impressed with Elkton Brewing Company. A former warehouse building next to the train tracks has been modernized into a very cool taproom, and between the outstanding small-batch beer and the frequent live music performances it was easy to see why the venue routinely wins annual “Best of the Valley” awards. We also enjoyed excellent burgers from Old 33 Beer & Burger Grill and a very solid pizza from Goodfellas. Plus having a kitchen at the rental meant we could just boil some pasta for a quick and easy meal at “home.” The town is small, and the rental was an apartment located on the second floor above a vintage shop in the downtown area, so the brewery and restaurants we visited were all within easy walking distance. This gave us a chance to spot several interesting murals and other civic decorations around town.
History
While in the area I was excited to visit Montpelier, the home of James Madison. While he is not my very favorite president (that would be Lincoln), being the principal author of the Constitution definitely puts him in my top 5. Having a lively and memorable wife in Dolley Madison provides bonus points in this useless-to-anyone-else ranking. Sadly, my dreams of better understanding the life and mind of James Madison were not to be fulfilled by our visit to Montpelier. Although our tour guide gave an entertaining and well-scripted presentation as we walked through the house, it was almost entirely focused on architectural details and ornamentation. One might have questions about Madison, such as:
- Other than attending Princeton, what training or education did he have in preparation for writing the Constitution?
- Did he practice any sort of profession other than being a landowner?
- What political offices did he hold during the colonial era and in the newly-formed nation prior to being elected president?
- What works or thinkers particularly influenced his crafting of the basis of our entire governmental structure?
One would leave the tour with no answers to any of these questions. And after one glumly noted the presence of weird cardboard cutouts in the dining room, one would simply become resigned to studying Wikipedia at a later time.
I will note that the tour made one foray into political thought while we were viewing the library where Madison studied in preparation for the 1787 Constitutional Convention. Our guide pointed out that, when sitting at the desk making notes about a form of government based on principles of individual liberty, Madison was looking out the window over hundreds of people he kept in bondage on his property in the wholly unfree state of chattel slavery. Like his neighbor Jefferson, Madison was a contradiction on the issue of human rights. I’m very glad that the tour guide made this point, but I wish this hadn’t been the only mention of political theory during the tour.
And Family Time
Luckily we had one final event planned which completely cheered us up after a somewhat disappointing visit to Montpelier. We spent the remainder of the day with Ken’s cousin and his wife, who live in the Charlottesville area. We met them for lunch at The Market at Grelen, a very cool garden shop/nursery/pick-your-own fruit farm/event venue/cafe located around the corner from Montpelier. The farm-to-table ingredients made for fantastic sandwiches. Then we headed over to the lovely tasting room at Early Mountain Winery to indulge in Virginia wines. We were not sure what to expect in terms of wine quality. We’ve tried wines in some places that make it clear why there is no thriving regional winemaking business. (I’m looking at you, Wisconsin.) So we were very pleased to enjoy some truly excellent Virginia wines! The area specializes in lesser-known varietals like Cabernet Franc, Viognier, and Petit Verdot, and looking around at the scenery it was obvious why. The rolling hills and temperate climate are quite reminiscent of the south of France, so it’s no surprise that grapes common in that region of France thrive in Virginia. I hear they make some pretty good wines in Bordeaux and the Rhone Valley, but I’d be just as happy to consume the Early Mountain Cabernet Franc any day. Of course, spending the day catching up with family and trading stories made the experience even more memorable. It was an outstanding way to wrap up our multi-park journey.
One thing we’ve definitely learned over time is that your tour guide can make or break your whole experience. It’s strange that yours was so focused on one particular aspect of the place to the exclusion of all others – especially when information about the guy who lived there, and his political philosophies, would be kinda, you know, expected. Very strange…
Those parks are absolutely beautiful, but yeah, kinda hard to get excited about 4,000 feet when you’ve hiked at 14,000 feet. Still, the vistas are lovely and the towns are full of character. And I agree with you on the Virginia wines – there are some good ones. Just do yourself a favor and avoid the dessert wines….unless you enjoy blinding headaches that make you question every life decision you’ve ever made.
Totally agree on the importance of the guide. And he wasn’t a terrible communicator! We just didn’t want to hear so much about the subjects depicted in every piece of artwork, every bust on display, and the choice of the wallpaper in each room. When I went back and read the Wikipedia page on Madison I was intrigued to discover that he was a self-taught lawyer, similar to Lincoln, though never a member of the bar and never a practicing lawyer. Also, he was extremely close to the other Virginia founders (particularly Washington and Jefferson) while Aaron Burr introduced him to Dolley while he was serving in one of the very first US Congresses. There must be great stories to share about all this!
Anyhow, good tip about the dessert wines. Seems in line with my general view of sweet cocktails: pleasant at the time, not so much the following day.
I’ve always envied those travelers who could imbibe at wineries and/or breweries. Those places are always in the most beautiful settings and make great destination activities, and you manage to find the best ones.
Sorry the tour of Montpelier wasn’t up to snuff. It makes me wonder if it’s always been that way there, or if the current political climate has led to a more apolitical presentation. What I learned from your post was that there is an “e” in Dolley Madison’s first name, which I never knew because I mostly remembered the Dolly Madison line of Hostess snack cakes. Priorities!
Overall, though, it appears you had a very successful road trip with all the best stuff!
That’s a really good point about the political climate. That would make a lot of sense – especially given how close the election is and how on-edge people are. Much easier to talk about wallpaper patterns than political philosophies when you’re afraid of getting your head ripped off by some overzealous/underinformed tour member who spends all his time on social media priming for a fight. Hmmmm. Wallpaper, it is!!
You are definitely right about the lovely settings, especially at wineries, which is why we stop at similar places so often despite some inconsistent experiences. In this case we have to give full credit to Ken’s cousins for selecting our activities on the east side of the park, close to their home. They picked some real winners out for us!
You are the second person to mention the Dolley spelling to me; according to my impeccable Wikipedia sources it seems that there is some doubt about the “true” spelling. In my experience with family history research that’s often the case with names from the 18th century. But I go with Wiki and her birth registry on this one.
I agree with you both that it would be interesting to know whether the tour has been sanitized to make it less political. Or perhaps there is just a lot of variation in what the different docents cover, and we ended up touring with a furnishings enthusiast. As an added data point on this I will note that the book selection in the gift shop was also strangely bereft of information about Madison. I would have expected them to be selling some biographies, also maybe something like Original Meanings by Jack Rakove. But virtually all the books we noticed were about First Ladies or slavery/civil rights. It was all very strange. But on the upside, now we know a lot more about colonial brickwork and clocks.
Well, I definitely want to know about the wallpaper. My question is: Who in the hell picked out that atrocious pattern?? LOL. So I hope when we finally get to Madison’s house the wallpaper enthusiast is still giving tours. Seriously, though, I suspect as all of you do that the current political climate makes it much safer to discuss wallpaper than anything political. Which is insane.
We definitely want to plan a trip to Shenandoah NP. Those hikes you did all had fantastic views. I’ll bet it’s even more spectacular in the fall! But there might be way too many people then on the trails. You crack me up with your proposed speed limit. Not 40, must be 42. 😜
Those garish wallpapers were all the rage in the early republic. Thanks to our tour, I can tell you that the new nation was very much enthralled by anything to do with ancient Greece and Rome, thanks to their democratic traditions, so Corinthian columns, draperies, and even toga-like outfits were common. Also, I can tell you that James Madison had an unusually keen interest in images of Niagara Falls. There’s no accounting for taste.
I highly recommend a trip to Shenandoah. We were constantly commenting that the scenery must be spectacular in fall. Elkton has an annual autumn festival the third week in October, if that’s any indication of the peak. No doubt it could be tricky to find lodging, but we thought the towns in the Shenandoah Valley (Elkton, Luray) had a lot of good options.