No Park is an Island

No Park is an Island. . , Skyline Drive was conceived and built so that people could enjoy views of the rural Shenandoah Valley and Virginia Piedmont. Indeed, the Valley looks like a folk art painting from up here – brush strokes of farms, homes, forests, and small businesses., Though the landscape you see from the Signal Knob Overlook is mostly rural, it’s less rural than it was 23, 30, 50 years ago. More houses have been built, and more businesses. This view is losing its folk art character., Shenandoah National Park is not as island. What happens outside its boundaries – expansion, industrialization, the building of cell phone towers – affects the park, and views from Skyline Drive. Park management can make decisions on how to best protect and preserve the resources inside Shenandoah. But because many of the views from our overlooks and peaks lie in towns and cities outside Park boundaries, surrounding communities also have a role in protecting the park’s views. There is a delicate balance between development and preservation., From this overlook you can see Signal Knob, the northernmost peak of Massanutten Mountain. Much of the Massanutten remains undeveloped because it too is public land, protected as part of the George Washington National Forest. You can see the Shenandoah River flowing north to its confluence with the Potomac before emptying into the Chesapeake Bay.