Signs, Snow, SRSP

Shenandoah River State Park.

This park is off US 340 near Bentonville, Virginia. It offers trails and access to the South Fork of the Shenandoah. You won't see many people kayaking here in January like you do in the summer.

There are signs at the trail heads. Some have a map and a a caution about bears.

The sign about gundalows is at the visitors center.  They were flat-bottomed boats that transported goods down the river in the days before trains and trucks. The river is shallow in many places so only a shallow boat can make it down.

"Where did the Gundalows go?

Nearly nine feet long and up to ninety feet long, Gundalows were designed to make a single downriver trip, since returning upstream against the current in a heavy raft was impractical. Once they reached their destination and were unloaded, they were sold for lumber and boatmen would walk back to their upriver homes along the roads that paralleled the Shenandoah. Several buildings on Church Street and in the surrounding area of Front Royal were built of gundalow wood, as were many homes and business in Harpers Ferry."

 

A gundalow had square ends, unlike a batteau which had tapered ends, which were better for navigating back upriver. (There is an explanation on the differences on the Scottsville Museum site.)
 

I was not able to get an even photo of the quote from Will Carson because it was on the wall in a hallway where there was not enough room to stand across from it and get it all in.  Carson was not only the first chair of Virginia's Commission on Conservation and Development, he was also instrumental in founding the state parks in Virginia, worked toward the establishment of Shenandoah National Park, and played a role in developing Virginia's historical markers program.

"I would rather build a park where the plain people of Virginia can spend a pleasant outing and find pleasure and recreation close to nature, than to build a great church or endow a cathedral."

I've written about William E. Carson before. A trail in Front Royal bears his name.

[Some of the pictures in this post are from last winter.]

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