Uploads from NCinDC

Big Ben

nobody@flickr.com (NCinDC) — Sat, 18 May 2013 21:01:29 -0700

NCinDC posted a photo:

Ben giving me the "Why aren't you throwing the tennis ball" look.

“Take the Battery Out of Your Mobile Device for 72 Hours”

nobody@flickr.com (NCinDC) — Sat, 18 May 2013 21:01:28 -0700

NCinDC posted a photo:

“Take the Battery Out of Your Mobile Device for 72 Hours” mural on the side of Taylor Gourmet at 1116 H Street, N.E., in the Near Northeast neighborhood (H Street corridor) of Washington, D.C.

440-446 K Street NW

nobody@flickr.com (NCinDC) — Thu, 16 May 2013 02:45:39 -0700

NCinDC posted a photo:

A new apartment building located at 440 K Street, N.W., in the Mount Vernon Triangle neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The $45 million, 14-story postmodern building was designed by the Davis Carter Scott, Ltd. architectural firm. The building was topped out on March 15, 2013.

Via mvtriangleblog:
"440 K will be the next apartment building to break ground in the Mount Vernon Triangle. With 234 apartments, 440 K will feature two rooftop terraces, a pool, private club room for social occasions, private balconies, and a fitness center. There will also be 9,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. 440 K Street will be the fourth building completed in Mount Vernon Place, the two million square foot, mixed-use development of The Wilkes Company and Quadrangle Development Corporation. Designed by Davis Carter Scott, the building is anticipated to be complete by the autumn of 2013..... 440 K Street will be a new Class A apartment development located at Mount Vernon Place in one of Washington, DCs developing neighborhoods, Mount Vernon Triangle. The development will include 234 apartment units on 14 floors with approximately 9,450 square feet of ground floor retail with K Street frontage. The remainder of the ground floor will be dedicated to residential uses, including the building entrance and lobby which features multiple seating areas and ceiling heights up to 14 feet; property management and leasing offices; and a fitness center for use by the residents. Of the 234 apartment units, 182 will be one bedroom, one bathroom units and have an average size of 733 square feet. The building will also feature 26 one bedroom with den units at 859 square feet, and 26 two bedroom, two bathroom units at either 959 square feet or 1,135 square feet. The building will feature many amenities including a roof top pool with changing rooms, a landscaped roof top terrace and indoor community room, a 1,200 square foot fitness center on the ground floor, and available wi-fi access in the building common areas. The building will also feature a garden terrace available to residents on the second floor which will offer a peaceful retreat from city living."

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Two former residences, 444 and 446 K Street, N.W., now serve as the Washington offices of Total Audio-Visual Systems, Inc. The row houses are designated as contributing properties to the Mount Vernon Triangle Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 2006.

Via the NRHP nomination form:
"At either end of the block are the two oldest groupings the Italianate-style former saloon at 472 K Street and a pair of circa 1873-74 Italianate-style brick dwellings at 444-446 K Street. Both of these survive from the area's second major phase of development, prompted by the construction of the Northern Liberties Market at the northwest corner of 5th and K Streets, and both are excellent local examples of the Italianate style of architecture."

Douglas Memorial United Methodist Church

nobody@flickr.com (NCinDC) — Thu, 16 May 2013 02:45:38 -0700

NCinDC posted a photo:

Douglas Memorial United Methodist Church located at 800 11th Street, N.E., in the Near Northeast neighborhood (H Street corridor) of Washington, D.C. Built in 1898 for $18,000, the Romanesque Revival style church was constructed by J. C. Yost, following the designs of architect Joseph C. Johnson.

loungin

nobody@flickr.com (NCinDC) — Mon, 13 May 2013 19:59:15 -0700

NCinDC posted a photo:

My first attempt this year to no longer be an albino.

Beginning my high school senior year, I used tanning beds three or four times a week, at the minimum. The year round "mega bed" visits combined with expensive accelerator lotion (it temporarily turns your skin magenta while making it "tingle", aka sting a little) not surprisingly resulted in me being incredibly dark. I almost looked Italian in older photos.

I continued the tanning regiment until my late 20s. I began to worry about the long-term effect butt-brownin bulbs would have on my body, so I stopped the fake-n-bake sessions and returned to my natural shade (see: Casper the Friendly Ghost)

I hope to get a little color this summer, but I'll probably end up nursing a sunburn.

dr. seuss socks

nobody@flickr.com (NCinDC) — Mon, 13 May 2013 19:59:15 -0700

NCinDC posted a photo:

I decided to take my gay white boy style to the next level while enjoying one of my Marlboro blunts.

Blue shorts in honor of my beloved North Carolina Tar Heels and incredibly homosexual Dr. Seuss socks in honor of my being a big proud homo make a great combo, right?

My man (Big Daddy) only grinned when I asked him that question. That's one of the many reasons I love my baby daddy.

Lime Green Icicle Tower

nobody@flickr.com (NCinDC) — Wed, 08 May 2013 23:01:00 -0700

NCinDC posted a photo:

Lime Green Icicle Tower (2011), by artist Dale Chihuly, in the Shapiro Courtyard at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. This iPhone picture was taken during the 2011 exhibition entitled “Chihuly: Through the Looking Glass”.

Via The Wall Street Journal:
“Lime Green Icicle Tower [is] a 42-foot-tall, 9-foot-wide spiky column confected from 2,342 pieces of blown glass that together weigh some 10,000 pounds. The tower is so popular that the MFA recently launched a public campaign to buy it—only the third such appeal in its 135-year history.

Lime Green Icicle Tower, which was made for the MFA's soaring glass courtyard by artist Dale Chihuly, is part of an exhibition entitled “Chihuly: Through the Looking Glass.” Although Mr. Chihuly is controversial in the art world—some experts see his works as overwrought, repetitive and lacking in intellectual content—more than 360,000 people have seen the show since it opened on April 10, [2011]. When it closes on Monday, it will be the MFA's fifth biggest draw ever.

Six of his famous bulbous chandeliers, including a silvery one, are there, as well as newer works, like the 17-foot-long Ikebana Boat, filled with colorful, whimsical but unrecognizable forms. But only the neon-hued tower, which looks like a cross between a cactus and a poplar tree, has generated a flood of inquiries and regularly had its picture taken. Even Chihuly detractors seem to think that it should stay at the MFA.

So, on July 18, the museum placed a contribution box next to the piece and sent an email to members and recent visitors asking for donations. A week later, it activated its first-ever mobile giving scheme, allowing people to give $10 by texting TOWER to 50555.

As of Friday, small donors had contributed about $28,000—not bad, except that the museum needs to raise more than $1 million to buy the piece. Five major museum patrons have chipped in to raise the total to about $320,000, and another recently promised to match public gifts, dollar-for-dollar, up to $150,000 on top of that.

[Museum director Malcolm A.] Rogers says that he will not use funds budgeted for acquisitions for the piece—partly on principle: 'We're offering people an opportunity to play an active role in our future, sending the message that people can make a difference.' Besides, he adds, 'I'm totally confident that we will raise what we need for it.'”

FYI - The museum raised the necessary funds to purchase the artwork and it remains on display in the Shapiro Courtyard.

Oz, teddy style

nobody@flickr.com (NCinDC) — Wed, 08 May 2013 23:01:00 -0700

NCinDC posted a photo:

Friends purchased during my stay at The Liberty Hotel in the West End neighborhood of Boston. The Starwood Luxury Collection hotel is housed in the former Charles Street Jail, a historic building completed in 1851 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The hotel utilizes the prison theme in every way imaginable: restaurant and bar names include Clink, Alibi, and The Yard; a video history of the prison plays in the lobby; framed mugshots of celebrities who spent time in the Charles Street Jail hang on the walls; 'Solitary' signs are provided instead of the generic 'Do Not Disturb', etc. It was one of the best hotel stays I've ever experienced. Each night the entire lobby is transformed into a lounge and popular local hangout. The line to get into the lobby and Alibi snaked down the escalator and down the sidewalk. If you ever stay at the hotel, or the next time you visit Boston, I highly recommend eating at Scampo, a contemporary Italian restaurant by Lydia Shire located on the hotel's ground floor. My dinner was absolutely delicious and everything from the server to the atmosphere was perfect.

So yeah, these two bears are a nice reminder of my wonderful experience at The Liberty. They now spend their days hanging out on a shelf by my computer desk.

Virginia Hospital Center

nobody@flickr.com (NCinDC) — Sat, 04 May 2013 15:42:55 -0700

NCinDC posted a photo:

The Virginia Hospital Center located at 1701 North George Mason Drive in Ballston, Arlington County, Virginia. Construction of the nine-story postmodern building was completed in 2004 to the designs of architectural firm Gresham, Smith and Partners.

view from a hospital room

nobody@flickr.com (NCinDC) — Sat, 04 May 2013 15:42:55 -0700

NCinDC posted a photo:

Facing west across Arlington County, Virginia towards Washington, D.C., as viewed from the Virginia Hospital Center.

The cluster of high-rises closest in the picture is Ballston. The Waycroft-Woodlawn neighborhood is in the foreground.

From the Arlington County website:
"Waycroft-Woodlawn consists of 585 single-family homes located just northwest of the commercial center of Ballston in a beautiful, heavily wooded area of northern Arlington County . It is generally bounded by Glebe Road , I-66, 17th Street , and George Mason Drive/Frederick Street . The homes are characterized by architectural styles common to the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. This gives the neighborhood an interesting variety of structural designs while maintaining a consistent feel of scale and quality. Woodlawn Park is located entirely within the bounds of the Waycroft-Woodlawn Neighborhood, and is no more than a five to ten minute walk from any home in the community. A stream, the uppermost reach of Lubber Run, runs through the park. Throughout the year, parents take their children there to play on the playground equipment; dog owners walk their pets; families have picnics; and walkers, joggers, skaters, and cyclists use the paths that crisscross the park.....In the early 1800's Waycroft-Woodlawn consisted of farms, scattered houses, and woods. In the 1850s, two Waycroft-Woodlawn residents, William Marcey and John Brown, had a dispute over a parcel of land at the intersection of Glebe and Brown's Bend Roads. To resolve the matter, they both gave up their claims and the land was donated for a church site. Subsequently, Mt. Olivet Methodist Church was built there in the years 1855-1860 however, the present church structure built in 1948 is the fourth building on the same site. The Civil War saw Union troops marching up and down Glebe Road to and from several of the twenty-two forts of the Arlington Line, part of the defenses built around Washington . Mt. Olivet Church served as a hospital for wounded Union soldiers, and later the Church was a military commissary and stable. Following the Civil War, a Union officer, Major R. S. Lacey of Ohio bought a farm in the southern part of the Waycroft-Woodlawn area and built a house, Broadview. This house stands today, still a private home, at 14th and Evergreen Streets. The Brumback firm built Woodlawn Village in the years 1934-1939. In the area named Waycroft, lots were sold and individual houses built rather than the entire development being built by one builder as was the case in Woodlawn Village . In the years following World War II, the remaining vacant lots in Waycroft-Woodlawn were then built up with individual dwellings."

A detailed history of the neighborhood is available via this link.

Balls Crossing

nobody@flickr.com (NCinDC) — Fri, 03 May 2013 00:28:17 -0700

NCinDC posted a photo:

Yes, Balls Crossing.

It's a small neighborhood southwest of Ballston in Arlington County, Virginia.

Emily Wiley House

nobody@flickr.com (NCinDC) — Fri, 03 May 2013 00:28:16 -0700

NCinDC posted a photo:

The Emily Wiley House located at 902 3rd Street, N.W., (aka 301 I Street, N.W.) in the Mount Vernon Triangle neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Completed in 1871, the Italianate style former residence was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.

From the NRHP nomination form:
"The three-story brick dwelling located at the northwest corner of 3rd and Streets, NW and known alternatively as 902 3rd Street NW and 301 Street NW is an imposing, Italianate-style corner brick urban dwelling form dating from 1869-1871. The building consists of three distinct parts: the three-story main dwelling block, a two-story service wing, and an attached, two-story carriage house at the rear. Once part of a densely built residential neighborhood, the dwelling now stands alone with vacant lots next to and behind it. The north side elevation of the house reveals ghosting of the lower, two-story brick dwelling that historically abutted the building to its north. The dwelling is located within the Mount Vernon Triangle area, currently under intense redevelopment with high-rise apartment buildings and condominiums."

“Although little is known about Emily Wiley, it is known that she was wealthy and owned a total of $20,000 in real estate in 1870. She was married twice: first to a Wiley, with whom she had two sons, and around the time of the construction of this house, to a Stanley Jones, with whom she bore a third child. Stanley Jones, a druggist according to census records, also appears to have been a real estate speculator who was later run out of town as an 'embarrassed broker' for his dealings."

old v new

nobody@flickr.com (NCinDC) — Wed, 01 May 2013 21:45:28 -0700

NCinDC posted a photo:

The 300 block of H Street NW in the Mount Vernon Triangle neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

In the foreground, from right to left, is 307-317 H Street. The Jefferson Apartment Building (built 1899), listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is the building with the fire escape.

The taller buildings, from right to left, are [the barely visible] The Sonata (built 2006), Madrigal Lofts (built 2007), and 425 Mass Apartments (built 2008).

309 & 311 H Street NW

nobody@flickr.com (NCinDC) — Wed, 01 May 2013 21:45:28 -0700

NCinDC posted a photo:

12 Volt and Tunnel Fine Wines & Spirit located at 309-311 H Street NW in the Mount Vernon Triangle neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Here's a photo of the buildings before the construction of apartments and condos in the area. You'll notice 307 H Street was torn down to make way for The Sonata.

311 H Street (left) is a former residence. I found a room for rent ad from an 1873 newspaper for this address, plus an article in 1887 mentions the address as being a "two story brick dwelling". I can't find any historical information on 309 H Street.

chicken, greens and crack

nobody@flickr.com (NCinDC) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 19:12:38 -0700

NCinDC posted a photo:

DCist Photo of the Day for May 2, 2013

Signs inside Crown Fried Chicken located at 716 H Street, N.E., in the Near Northeast neighborhood (H Street corridor) of Washington, D.C.

My better half wanted some fried chicken; myself, being a country boy from eastern North Carolina, wanted some collard greens. I asked one of the many people loitering outside Crown if they knew the best place to get collard greens. FUN FACT: collard greens is apparently slang for weed, or is it crack? The woman I had asked began telling everyone within earshot that I was a cop and to stay away from me. The cashier at Crown told me I should have said greens, sans collard. Good times on H Street NE!

On a related note, I wonder if Crown offers an eight ~~ball~~ piece dinner?

Jefferson Apartment Building

nobody@flickr.com (NCinDC) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 19:12:37 -0700

NCinDC posted a photo:

The Jefferson Apartment Building located at 315 H Street, N.W., in the Mount Vernon Triangle neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Built in 1899 to the designs of local architect George S. Cooper (additional designs by Cooper may be viewed here), the Romanesque Revival style building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.

Via the National Park Service - "The Jefferson is a four-story, Romanesque Revival apartment building constructed in 1899. It is one of 105 purpose-built multiple-family dwellings constructed in Washington, D.C. between 1880 and 1900 of which thirteen remain. The Jefferson is an early example of a Conventional Low-Rise Apartment Building. The building was designed to offer modest accommodations for Washington's middle-class.

The Jefferson Apartment Building, located at 315 H Street, N.W., was designed and constructed in 1899. This four-story plus basement and attic structure contains eight apartments, two units on each floor. It measures approximately 24' wide by 100' deep with light shafts. The building is faced with ocher roman brick with Indiana limestone trim. The facade is four bays wide and incorporates four horizontal divisions.

The Romanesque Revival architectural details include the rough-cut stone base, rough-cut stone lintels over the windows, and round-arch windows. However, the flatness of the wall plane, the post-and-lintel stone door surround, festoon panels, keystones, and the modillioned cornice represent Classical Revival elements in the facade.

The lowest horizontal division begins with a limestone base comprised of four courses of rough-cut ashlar surmounted by one course of smooth-cut ashlar. The left-side entrance incorporates two squat Doric pilasters which support an unconventional entablature. The word "JEFFERSON" is embossed on the lower frieze and set between a pair of raised fleur-de-lis. The original wood double doors have been boarded up. The balance of this level is comprised of three round-arch windows. The arches have three courses of rowlocks which spring from rough-cut limestone impost blocks featuring a low-relief leaf motif. The rowlocks are outlined with a dark brown reed molding.

The next horizontal division includes the second and third floors. It is marked at its lower level by a smooth faced limestone stringcourse which links the second-story window sills. Three two-story pilasters divide this section in two parts. The recessed areas incorporate pairs of rectangular one-over-one, double-hung wooden sash windows (boarded up). The second floor rough-cut limestone lintels extend to the edges of the recessed areas. This detail is repeated at the third story where the stone extends to the edges of the building. Two terra cotta panels which feature festoons are set between the floors.

The fourth level is defined at its lower edge by a dark brown cornice which extends the width of the building and also functions as a window sill. The four arched openings incorporated one-over-one, double-hung wooden sash windows. The arches are comprised of three courses of rowlocks, an oversize, rough-cut limestone keystone. The smooth-cut limestone impost blocks link the arches and stretch to the edges of the facade. Corbelled bricks, which extend the width of the four windows, are set above the oversize keystones. The top edge of the fourth level is defined by a metal cornice with large dentils.

The attic story takes on the appearance of a parapet wall. Three small rectangular windows are arranged in an a:b:a pattern. Each window is set between pairs of recessed brick panels with corbelling. A chimney, located at the western corner, is mimicked on the eastern corner to enhance the facade's symmetry. The roof is flat and was originally covered with tin.

A metal fire escape with limited decoration extends between the center two bays of the second through fourth floors; a ladder stretches up to the attic story.

The building has a lightwell in its central section and a recess at the rear of the building incorporates an additional metal fire escape. Two-over-two, double-hung wooden sash windows are located along the rear wall and in the lightwell and light shafts. Three chimneys project from the west party wall.

It is interesting to note the similarities between the Jefferson and Cooper's Lafayette Apartment Building designed one year earlier, in 1898, at 1605-1607 7th Street, N.W.

The Jefferson Apartment Building has been neglected in the recent past. At the time of documentation, the interior had been partially gutted. The areas which retained the original trim were in severely deteriorated conditions."

hands on

nobody@flickr.com (NCinDC) — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 18:31:38 -0700

NCinDC posted a photo:

Z-Mart located at 806 H Street NE in the Near Northeast neighborhood (H Street corridor) of Washington, D.C. It was reported this past February the 4000-square-foot closed dollar store would be home to Chez Hareg Organic Market by mid-April and undergo a $250,000 renovation. But the "coming soon" sign is nowhere to be found. I wonder if this place is just behind schedule or the whole plan was cancelled?

800 & 804 H Street NE

nobody@flickr.com (NCinDC) — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 18:31:38 -0700

NCinDC posted a photo:

A PNC Bank branch and T-Mobile store located at 800–804 H Street, N.E., in the Near Northeast neighborhood (H Street corridor) of Washington, D.C. A platform for the upcoming DC Streetcar's H/Benning Line is in the foreground.

* 800 H Street NE - Built in 1921 by J. L. Parsons, the bank's restrained interpretation of the Beaux-Arts style was designed by prominent local architect B. Stanley Simmons. (additional buildings designed by Simmons can be viewed here) The building originally served as a branch of the National Bank of Washington.

* 804 H Street NE - Built in 1890, the four-story Queen Anne-style property originally served as a private residence. It was later converted into Peoples Drug Store No. 5.

skyline tree

nobody@flickr.com (NCinDC) — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 05:20:39 -0700

NCinDC posted a photo:

Facing west on Skyline Drive in Virginia's Shenandoah National Park.

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Began in 1931 and completed in 1939, Skyline Drive is a 105-mile road that runs the entire length of Shenandoah National Park in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Skyline Drive Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1997 and designated a National Historic Landmark District in 2008. In addition, Skyline Drive was designated a National Scenic Byway in 2005.

Via the National Park Service:
"Skyline Drive is primarily significant for its leading role in the movement to conserve and enhance the Nation's natural resources in the eastern United States for enjoyment and outdoor recreation by the American public that gained momentum in the mid-1920s and continued through the 1930s. It represents efforts by the United States Government with the cooperation of the Commonwealth of Virginia to conserve the characteristic scenic and natural resources of the Central Appalachians and Blue Ridge in the form of Shenandoah National Park. Designed and constructed between 1931 and 1939, it played an important role in the efforts of the federal government to provide economic relief in the form of employment for both skilled and unskilled labor during the Great Depression. These programs included drought relief funding beginning in 1931 and the varied make-work and relief programs of the New Deal era (1933 to 1942) including the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), Public Works Administration (PWA), and Works Progress Administration (WPA). These programs not only promoted economic stability but moreover reflected the social-humanitarian purposes of the New Deal, advanced the conservation of natural areas, and expanded the recreational resources of the nation."

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Established in 1935 and dedicated the following year by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Shenandoah National Park is 199,100 acres situated between the Shenandoah Valley and Virginia Piedmont. Almost 80,000 acres of the park is designated as wilderness and protected by the National Wilderness Preservation System.

Via National Geographic:
"Skyline Drive, which runs for 105 miles along the crest of the Blue Ridge mountains, is flanked by a rumpled panorama of forests and mountains. To many who travel the drive, the highway itself is a park, complete with numerous deer sightings along the way. But the cars are passing the real Shenandoah. More than 500 miles of trails can be reached from Skyline Drive, and the Appalachian Trail roughly parallels it for nearly its entire length.

The long, narrow park flows outward, upward, and downward from the highway that splits it. The drive, following ridge trails walked by Indians and early settlers, transports visitors to a park built on a frontier that lingered into modern times.

Unlike most national parks, Shenandoah is a place where settlers lived for over a century. To create the park, Virginia state officials acquired 1,088 privately owned tracts and donated the land to the nation. Never before had a large, populated expanse of private land been converted into a national park. And never before had planners made a park of land so used by humans. Before the park opened and during its early days, some 465 families moved or were moved from their cabins and resettled outside the proposed park boundaries. A few mountaineers, though, lived out their lives in the park and were buried in the secluded graveyards of Shenandoah's vanished settlements.

Much of Shenandoah consisted of farmland and second- or third-growth forests logged since the early 1700s. Today the marks of lumbering, grazing, and farming have mostly disappeared, as forests have slowly come back.

Spring arrives first in the park valleys and then moves upward. Walking up a valley trail, a visitor can follow spring's path and see, in a single day, a variety of flowers that bloom elsewhere over a span of weeks Shenandoah National Park was built by members of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), a government jobs program created during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Workers constructed the rock walls, overlooks, picnic grounds, campgrounds, trails, and the Skyline Drive. They also planted the mountain laurel that lines the road, and built more than 340 structures in the park, many now listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The work of the CCC is commemorated by a statue of a CCC worker, Iron Mike."

hazel flowers

nobody@flickr.com (NCinDC) — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 05:20:39 -0700

NCinDC posted a photo:

Facing east at Hazel Mountain Overlook, located on Skyline Drive in Virginia's Shenandoah National Park. The overlook, elevation 2770 feet, is in the Rappahannock County portion of the Drive.

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Began in 1931 and completed in 1939, Skyline Drive is a 105-mile road that runs the entire length of Shenandoah National Park in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Skyline Drive Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1997 and designated a National Historic Landmark District in 2008. In addition, Skyline Drive was designated a National Scenic Byway in 2005.

Via the National Park Service:
"Skyline Drive is primarily significant for its leading role in the movement to conserve and enhance the Nation's natural resources in the eastern United States for enjoyment and outdoor recreation by the American public that gained momentum in the mid-1920s and continued through the 1930s. It represents efforts by the United States Government with the cooperation of the Commonwealth of Virginia to conserve the characteristic scenic and natural resources of the Central Appalachians and Blue Ridge in the form of Shenandoah National Park. Designed and constructed between 1931 and 1939, it played an important role in the efforts of the federal government to provide economic relief in the form of employment for both skilled and unskilled labor during the Great Depression. These programs included drought relief funding beginning in 1931 and the varied make-work and relief programs of the New Deal era (1933 to 1942) including the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), Public Works Administration (PWA), and Works Progress Administration (WPA). These programs not only promoted economic stability but moreover reflected the social-humanitarian purposes of the New Deal, advanced the conservation of natural areas, and expanded the recreational resources of the nation."

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Established in 1935 and dedicated the following year by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Shenandoah National Park is 199,100 acres situated between the Shenandoah Valley and Virginia Piedmont. Almost 80,000 acres of the park is designated as wilderness and protected by the National Wilderness Preservation System.

Via National Geographic:
"Skyline Drive, which runs for 105 miles along the crest of the Blue Ridge mountains, is flanked by a rumpled panorama of forests and mountains. To many who travel the drive, the highway itself is a park, complete with numerous deer sightings along the way. But the cars are passing the real Shenandoah. More than 500 miles of trails can be reached from Skyline Drive, and the Appalachian Trail roughly parallels it for nearly its entire length.

The long, narrow park flows outward, upward, and downward from the highway that splits it. The drive, following ridge trails walked by Indians and early settlers, transports visitors to a park built on a frontier that lingered into modern times.

Unlike most national parks, Shenandoah is a place where settlers lived for over a century. To create the park, Virginia state officials acquired 1,088 privately owned tracts and donated the land to the nation. Never before had a large, populated expanse of private land been converted into a national park. And never before had planners made a park of land so used by humans. Before the park opened and during its early days, some 465 families moved or were moved from their cabins and resettled outside the proposed park boundaries. A few mountaineers, though, lived out their lives in the park and were buried in the secluded graveyards of Shenandoah's vanished settlements.

Much of Shenandoah consisted of farmland and second- or third-growth forests logged since the early 1700s. Today the marks of lumbering, grazing, and farming have mostly disappeared, as forests have slowly come back.

Spring arrives first in the park valleys and then moves upward. Walking up a valley trail, a visitor can follow spring's path and see, in a single day, a variety of flowers that bloom elsewhere over a span of weeks Shenandoah National Park was built by members of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), a government jobs program created during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Workers constructed the rock walls, overlooks, picnic grounds, campgrounds, trails, and the Skyline Drive. They also planted the mountain laurel that lines the road, and built more than 340 structures in the park, many now listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The work of the CCC is commemorated by a statue of a CCC worker, Iron Mike."