The story of the lands comprising Shenandoah National Park began long before that playground’s dedication in 1936. Archaeologists probed its aged rocky spine while social scientists labored to reveal its eras of human occupation. With little exception, early sojourners who sensed a need to traverse its mountain heights or to scratch a subsistence living from its hollows did so with much effort and fortitude.
By the 19th century, society’s fortunate ones who had acquired varied amounts of expendable savings searched afield for opportunities of relaxation and entertainment, to escape aggravations found in sultry summer lowlands and grimy cities. The more adventurous of that group excerpted the biblical Psalm and “lifted up their eyes to the hills” in search of a remedy for their seasonal discontents.
At Swift Run Gap, the Park’s 104-mile-long Skyline Drive separates the counties of Greene and Rockingham. Twenty-two miles south of that point, near Black Rock Gap, Shenandoah Valley investors Messrs. Crawford, Johnson, and Mowry, in the 1830s, purchased a tract of mountain land in Augusta County. Just below the 2,300’ elevation gap, at the site of well-known mineral springs, they built simple rental cabins where families could retreat during the summer months.
In 1840, they advertised for proposals “for the building of a house [hotel] at the Union Chalybeate Spring, sixty feet long, thirty-one feet wide, three stories high, basement story of stone, the two upper stories frame. The whole to be completed in a plain, substantial, but workmanlike manner.” For 100 years, that enterprise, renamed Black Rock Springs, survived ownership changes and mountain fires until its lands were absorbed via eminent domain into the National Park.
Another substantial yet intentionally rustic mountain retreat was established in the 1880s, this time 24 miles north of Swift Run Gap, above Luray near the mountaintop border of Page and Madison Counties. Stony Man Camp was the vision and brainchild of George Freeman Pollock (1868–1949). More commonly known by its later name Skyland, it became young Pollock’s legacy.
The large Stony Man Mountain Tract was purchased in the 1850s for the purpose of mining copper ore. By the early 1880s, however, the costs of ore extraction proved prohibitive, the endeavor ended, and the mountain property languished. One of the principal mining investors was George H. Pollock of Washington, D.C., who encouraged his teenaged son George F. to indulge his growing interest in taxidermy by visiting the 5,000+ acre property and to bring back a report on its possibilities as a hunting preserve.
Preparations were made for the younger Pollock’s exploratory trip. In October 1886, he entrained for the town of Luray, located on the line of the Shenandoah Valley Railroad in Page County. Prior to this grand adventure, the most expansive view seen by the youthful Washingtonian had been from the Maryland hillsides above the falls at Harper’s Ferry, WV.
Arriving safely in Luray, Pollock located the recommended local mountain guide, with whom he also arranged for his own board. For several days it rained, and no attempts were made to climb the mountain. The likable visitor entertained his hosts and their children with banjo tunes and storytelling. Finally, a new day broke with clear skies and sunshine.
“In my limited travels I had never seen a mountain,” Pollock wrote, “and I was thrilled and most anxious to get off on my first tour of inspection.” During their six-mile hike, his guide spoke of the years of copper mining, shared stories of the people who lived on both sides of the mountain, and described the various animals and snakes that were likely just off-trail. At last, they reached the summit.
“The wind blew hard, and it was cold, but I did not feel it,” wrote Pollock, “and what a view—and so close to Washington! I raved and shouted and probably would have yodeled if I had known, at that time, how to yodel… Then and there I made up my mind to consecrate my life to the development of this, my father’s land.”
Soon thereafter, Pollock returned to Washington and exuberantly described for his father the wonders he had experienced and his vision of a mountain resort at that place. The following spring the elder Pollock with two business associates made his own inspection tour and returned in agreement with the potential of the scenic property. During the next half-dozen years, deeds were cleared, debts addressed, investors were approached and more exploratory retreats were spent on the mountain. Tent platforms were established there along with basic kitchen and dining facilities.
For the summer of 1894, George Freeman Pollock produced and distributed a folder titled “A Camping Party on Stony Man Mountain.” The plan was to invite upper-middle class investors who would purchase lots and erect cabins for seasonal stays. A post office—named SKYLAND— was established in 1895, and George F. Pollock was installed as postmaster. Earlier tent platforms soon gave way to an increasing number of rustic cabins and cottages, and an improved and enlarged dining hall. Grounds were expanded and roads and hiking trails improved year after year.
Annual guest lists read like a “Who’s Who” of Washington society, each “camper” setting aside city pretenses to relax and join in with the plethora of activities led by their charismatic host. Year after year Pollock’s evermore grandiose entertainments amused and amazed his guests.
The 1912 edition of Stony Man Camp’s promotional booklet detailed amenities and activities “sufficient to satisfy even those who find it necessary for their happiness to be amused all the time.” Campers could expect indoor lights, comfortable beds, hot baths, daily chambermaid services, unlimited wood for fireplaces, great varieties of fresh meats and vegetables, eggs, breads, pastries and fresh milk with their three daily meals; guided hikes to Stony Man Mountain, Old Rag, Kettle Canyon, Hawksbill, Crescent Rock, and the old copper mines, among other destinations; overnight camping parties with guides, cooks, and attendants; sunrise and moonrise parties at Stony Man peak; multiple waterfalls, swimming, fishing, dancing to the Skyland Orchestra, organized picnics, lawn tennis, clay pigeons, musical entertainments, masquerade parties, daily mail and same-day newspaper delivery, a telephone, resident physician, regular laundry services, and the annual “big Camp-fire—containing 300 cords of wood burning at one time.” Oh—and did we mention the views?
The 1920s and ’30s brought the national parks movement to the eastern United States. It spelled the end of an era for many mountain residents and, along with them, such privately owned idyllic rustic retreats as Black Rock Springs and Stony Man Camp. Oh, to have been there!
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