Basic Information

The National Park Service and its partners— public and private organizations— come together to preserve lands of the Shenandoah Valley and to share its rich heritage:

• Early American Indians and the landscapes they shaped  
• The 18th century arrival of the first German, English, and Scots-Irish colonists 
• A vast plantation with over 100 enslaved laborers set amidst small family-run farms 
• The agricultural economy that fed tens of thousands beyond the Shenandoah Valley  
• A major transportation corridor, with busy modern highways following the routes blazed by American Indians  
• A panormaic view of the Allegheny, Blue Ridge, and Massanutten Mountains
• The devastating Civil War campaigns and the Battle of Cedar Creek, which helped ensure the reelection of Abraham Lincoln