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50 free Shenandoah National Park trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Shenandoah National Park trivia quiz covers the long, thin park along the crest of Virginia's Blue Ridge, where Skyline Drive runs 105 miles from Front Royal to Rockfish Gap and the Appalachian Trail shadows it the whole way. It ranges across Old Rag and Hawksbill, Big Meadows and Skyland, Dark Hollow Falls, the black bears and reintroduced peregrines, and the billion-year-old granite under it all. There is plenty of history too, and not all of it comfortable: Herbert Hoover's Rapidan Camp, Governor Harry Byrd's campaign, the 5,000 parcels of private land Virginia condemned, the mountain families evicted in the 1930s and the discredited 'Hollow Folk' report, the CCC boys who built the road, the segregated Lewis Mountain facilities and their desegregation in 1950, and FDR's dedication in 1936. Questions run from easy to expert with the difficulty shown on each one, so it works for a leaf-peeping road-trip game or a serious park-nerd challenge. Every answer was checked against a reference page and each question carries its citation. If you enjoy it, try our Great Smoky Mountains, New River Gorge and US National Parks quizzes next.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Shenandoah National Park is in which U.S. state?
Virginia
It runs along a mountain crest, with the Shenandoah Valley to the west and the Piedmont to the east.
Q 02Which mountain range does the park occupy?
Blue Ridge
The crest divides the Shenandoah River watershed on the west from the James and Rappahannock basins on the east.
Q 03What is the name of the road that runs the entire length of the park along the ridge?
Skyline Drive
At its southern end it hands off to a parkway that continues to the Smokies.
Q 04How long is the park's ridge-top road?
105 miles
It runs from the northeast corner to near Waynesboro in the southwest, with mileposts numbered 0 to 105.
Q 05What is the strictly enforced speed limit on the park's ridge road?
35 mph
Deer, bears and turkeys cross without warning, and cyclists and walkers share the two lanes.
Q 06How many overlooks line the park's ridge road?
75
Roughly half face the Shenandoah Valley and half the Piedmont.
Q 07What is the highest peak in the park, at just over 4,050 feet?
Hawksbill
Its north face drops 2,500 feet into Timber Hollow, the biggest elevation change in the park.
Q 08Which 3,284-foot peak with a bare summit and famous rock scramble is the park's top hike?
Old Rag
The 9-mile circuit includes a 1.1-mile boulder scramble; unlike most peaks in the range its top is exposed rock.
Q 09Which billion-year-old rock, named for its peak, forms the park's most popular mountain?
Old Rag Granite
It formed in the Grenville orogeny, making it among the oldest rock in the state.
Q 10Which president built a fishing retreat in the park area in 1929 and later donated it?
Herbert Hoover
He wanted a spot within 100 miles of Washington, above 2,500 feet to dodge mosquitoes, and next to a good trout stream.
Q 11What was the nickname of the Hoovers' residential cabin at their mountain retreat?
The Brown House
The camp is seen as the forerunner of Camp David.
Q 12Which branch of the military built the Hoovers' retreat as a 'military exercise'?
Marine Corps
Hoover paid for the land himself, $1,045 at $5 an acre, plus $22,719 for materials.
Q 13Which two streams meet inside the presidential retreat to form the Rapidan River?
Mill Prong and Laurel Prong
Visitors today reach the camp by a 4.1-mile round-trip hike from Milam Gap or a ranger-led van trip.
Q 21Which federal work programme's crews built the ridge road and cleared the dead chestnut trees?
Civilian Conservation Corps
About 1,000 men and boys worked on the road, and the state's first camp was set up near Luray.
Q 22Which once-dominant tree had lost about half the park's forest to blight by the park's creation?
American chestnut
Oaks took over, only to be hammered by gypsy moths from the 1990s, which destroyed nearly a tenth of the oak groves.
Q 23What was the single facility opened at Lewis Mountain in 1939 for African American visitors?
A picnic ground, lodge and campground
Q 14In what year was Shenandoah National Park formally established?
1935
Congress had authorised it back in 1926, on condition that no federal money be spent buying the land.
Q 15Which president formally opened the park on July 3, 1936?
Franklin D. Roosevelt
He had also decided in 1933 to build a parkway to connect to the still-unfinished ridge road.
Q 16Which governor and later U.S. senator was the park's leading political champion?
Harry F. Byrd
The visitor centre at Big Meadows carries his name, and a series of trail shelters were his gift.
Q 17Roughly how many separate parcels of private land did the state have to acquire to create the park?
More than 5,000
Congress insisted no federal funds be used, so the state raised money and used eminent domain.
Q 18Which discredited 1933 book depicted the park's mountain residents as poor, isolated 'hillbillies'?
Hollow Folk
A similarly discredited report by social worker Miriam Sizer was used to justify forced evictions and cabin burnings.
Q 19Roughly how many elderly residents on the 'Ickes list' were allowed to live out their lives inside the park?
About 40
The last, Annie Lee Bradley Shenk, was cared for by park staff from 1950 until she died in 1979 at 92.
Q 20Which resort owner, allowed to stay in the park, ran the Skyland Resort that reopened under a concessionaire?
George Freeman Pollock
Zerkel and Pollock had formed a park association to lobby the park selection committee.
It was markedly inferior; the Park Service ordered all concessions desegregated in December 1945 and the job was done by early 1950.
Q 24Which picnic ground was chosen as the park's first integrated site?
Pinnacles
The concessionaire kept printing maps that showed Lewis Mountain as the only Black site.
Q 25How much of the Appalachian Trail lies within the park?
101 miles
The park has over 500 miles of trail in all, and dogs are allowed on nearly all of them, including the AT.
Q 26Roughly what share of the park is designated wilderness?
Almost 40%
That is 79,579 acres, and backcountry campers must hang bear bags or use canisters.
Q 27Which 70-foot cascade is reached by a short, steep 0.7-mile trail near the Byrd Visitor Center?
Dark Hollow Falls
It is one of just ten trails in the park where dogs are banned.
Q 28Which town houses the park headquarters?
Luray
The park spans parts of eight counties, four on each side of the ridge.
Q 29Which town sits at the northern end of the park's road?
Front Royal
The southern end is near Waynesboro and I-64.
Q 30Which gap at the park's southern tip links the ridge road to the parkway heading south to the Smokies?
Rockfish Gap
Thornton Gap (US 211) and Swift Run Gap (US 33) are the two mid-park entrances.