Mary’s Rock Tunnel Overlook

This image of the Skyline Drive looking north toward Mary’s Rock Tunnel includes the Tunnel Overlook parking area and Pass Mountain in the distance. The idea for a skyline drive goes back to the Southern Appalachian National Park Committee assigned to look for land in the southern Appalachian Mountains to create an eastern national park. Their 1925 report to Congress recommending what would become Shenandoah National Park contained the statement, “The greatest single feature, however, is a possible skyline drive along the mountain top following a continuous ridge and looking down westerly on the Shenandoah Valley from 2,500 to 3, 500 feet below, and also commanding a view of the Piedmont Plain stretching easterly to the Washington Monument, which landmark or our National Capitol may be seen on a clear day. Few scenic drives in the world could surpass it.” Mary’s Rock Tunnel appearing here was an impressive engineering feat of great interest when it was built between 1931 and 1932. The guardwall and island of plantings visible in the image were done with the help of Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) labor which also built retaining walls on the north side of the tunnel. The CCC was responsible for these tasks here and along the drive from 1933 through 1942 when the last of the CCC camps in the park closed. Their labor was critical to the creation the Shenandoah National Park seen today.