Our eight days exploring Shenandoah National Park in late October and early November were highlighted with daily hikes to mountain tops, viewpoints, and waterfalls. The hikes typically originated on Skyline Drive, which runs along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Thus, we commonly hiked downhill first, leaving the climbing portion of the hike for the time when we were tired, hungry, and sometimes rain-soaked. At the end of these hikes, Betsy would tell me the song that would play on a continuous loop in her mind during the last uphill mile. I was typically just thinking about warm food, or chips, salsa, and beer.

One of our hikes took us to Rapidan Camp, a former presidential retreat. It’s not surprising many former presidents visited Shenandoah due to its proximity to Washington, DC, which is about 60 miles to the east. One president was particularly fond of the area.  President Herbert Hoover, our 31st president from 1929 to 1933, and First Lady Lou Henry Hoover established Rapidan Camp as their “summer White House” within the park at the confluence of Mill Prong and Laurel Prong. (This terminology was new to me – a “prong” is a branch of a stream.) Today, the National Park Service has preserved portions of the Rapidan Camp as an historic site within the national park.

From the Milam Gap trailhead on Skyline Drive, Rapidan Camp is a 4-mile round trip hike primarily following the Mill Prong. Recent rain had filled the stream and the sound of the water burbling over the stream’s rocks accompanied us along our hike. Rapidan Camp formerly consisted of 13 buildings, but only three remain. The National Park Service has installed interpretative signage with historical photos throughout the area to exhibit how the camp formerly looked.

The Hoover’s paid for the land and building materials themselves; US Marines constructed the buildings between 1929 and 1932. Each of the remaining buildings have large decks overlooking the streams that are conducive to sitting and listening to the water rushing over the rocks below. The Camp also included a fountain, a large outdoor stone fireplace, a cement-lined pond  (the ‘Trout Pond”), and a man-made stream named “Hemlock Run” which was built to increase the relaxing sounds of running water throughout the camp.

Guests at Rapidan Camp included Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Supreme Court Justice Harlan Stone, British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald, Winston Churchill and the Edsel Fords. While the camp was used for national and international policy discussions, guests also engaged in activities such as trout fishing, ping pong, horseshoes, and knitting. President Hoover was an avid trout fisherman and reportedly could cast a line from the deck of “The Brown House” (the presidential quarters, in contrast to the White House) into the water below. The Hoovers also would take guests on hikes into the surrounding forest.

While we explored Rapidan Camp, it was easy to reflect on the contrast between this presidential retreat and Mar-a-Lago, the Trump property used by our 45^th president. I admit I remembered little from AP American History class about Hoover’s presidency other than it coincided with the onset of the Great Depression. While President Hoover has been ranked by historians among the worst of our presidents, I have greater respect for Hoover based on our exploration of his former retreat.  I think our country would be in a better place if all of our presidents had a rustic retreat where they could unwind from the constant stress of leadership and cast a line into a fishing hole, hike a rocky trail, or gaze at the stars in a dark sky setting.

More information about Rapidan Camp can be found at the National Park Services interactive website found here. Photos from our visit to Rapidan Camp are below.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

•