Free previewStop 5 of Skyline Drive Through Shenandoah
All Men Are Equal Before Fishes
You've pulled in at Big Meadows, around milepost 51 on Skyline Drive. Look for the wide, open grassland beside the camp store and the Byrd Visitor Center. After miles of forest, it's the biggest stretch of open sky on the whole ridge. The visitor center is named for Harry F. Byrd, the Virginia governor who pushed hard for a national park up here. And one of his best moves was recruiting a president.
In November 1928, Herbert Hoover won the White House in a landslide. Hoover was a mining engineer from Iowa and California who had spent years living in remote mining camps with his wife, Lou Henry Hoover. Going home for a weekend was out of the question. So he gave his secretary, Lawrence Richey, a short list.
That's the opening. The rest plays at stop 5 of Skyline Drive Through Shenandoah (3 min in all). Unlock the tour to hear it all, or try stop 1 free first.
