Shenandoah National Park remains open, Delaware North operational, but National Park Service staff has been furloughed
By Randy Arrington
LURAY, Oct. 1 — A long-awaited dedication scheduled for next Wednesday in Shenandoah National Park has been postponed due to the federal government shutdown that went into effect on Wednesday.
“This is a very special occasion as it is the first time in decades that a new building has been constructed in Shenandoah [National Park],” reads an invitation that Page Valley News received for the Oct. 8 dedication and ribbon cutting for Blackrock Cottage. The event set at Big Meadows Lodge on Mile 51 of the Skyline Drive was to include remarks detailing the history of the property by Shenandoah Superintendent Tracy Stakely.
“Due to the government shutdown, we have to postpone the dedication,” reads a statement PVN received from Helen Morton, Director of Sales and Marketing from Delaware North at Shenandoah National Park. “Even though the park is open and Delaware North is fully operational, the NPS staff have been furloughed. I’ll be back in touch as soon as we have a new date.”
One week after a new National Park Service report showed that 1.7 million visitors to Shenandoah National Park in 2024 spent $132 million in communities near the park and that spending had a cumulative benefit to local economies of $175 million, the following message was posted on the SNP website:
“National parks remain as accessible as possible during the federal government shutdown. However, some services may be limited or unavailable. For more information, please visit: doi.gov/shutdown“
The link provided shows a number of agencies under the Department of the Interior and the National Park Service that have been impacted as a result of furloughed employees. Last week’s National Park Service report, 2024 National Park Visitor Spending Effects, found that visitors spent $29 billion in communities near national parks. This spending provided $18.8 billion in labor income and $56.3 in economic output to the U.S. economy. The lodging sector had the highest direct contributions with $11.1 billion in economic output. Restaurants received the next greatest direct contributions with $5.7 billion in economic output.
Due to this week’s furlough of federal workers, the Department of the Interior posted the following:
“Because of the federal government shutdown, www.doi.gov is not being updated and will not be able to respond to inquiries until appropriations are enacted.”
Next week’s planned unveiling and ribbon cutting of the new Blackrock Cottage had special meaning for local first responders and would bring closure to a more than three-year effort to reconstruct the historic building after it was claimed by an early morning fire on April 18, 2022. The blaze caused more than $500,000 in damage, claiming a maintenance building, a vehicle and the Blackrock Cottage.
The buildings were unoccupied, as the Big Meadows Lodge complex had not yet opened for the season, and no injuries were reported. However, local firefighters faced a challenge getting to the blaze and extinguishing it after a visitor to the national park in the Big Meadows camping area reported it.
When the Stanley Fire Department received the call at 2:48 a.m., the temperature was 26 degrees with high winds and sleet and snow falling totaling nearly four inches. Tanners Ridge recorded seven inches of snowfall in some areas. Then-Fire Chief Terry Pettit said local volunteers reached the site by way of a park access road at the end of Tanner’s Ridge Road, “which is steep terrain all the way,” and it took units “22 minutes to reach the scene” where “firefighters found Blackrock Lodge fully envolved.”
Firefighters were hampered by low water pressure in the fire hydrants, and water had to be shuttled by tankers to the scene. They were unable to save the 10-bedroom Blackrock Lodge and the maintenance building — both listed as “historic” buildings within the park.
Just four minutes after responding to a call for EMS at the Big Meadows structure fire, an ambulance staffed with two Page County Fire-EMS employees wrecked after running off the road along Judy Lane Extended in Stanley at 2:55 a.m. Again, no injuries were reported.
However, the incident overall involved six units from the Stanley Fire Department and 21 firefighters who responded to the call and were assisted by tankers from the Elkton, Luray and Shenandoah Fire Departments. An engine from Luray and crew, along with crews from the Shenandoah National Park, also assisted. Page County EMS and Stanley Rescue Squad also sent units, and a foam unit reported from Merck to smother the smoldering coals at the site.
The Blackrock Cottage is operated by the Park’s concessioner Delaware North, who plans to reschedule the planned dedication once NPS staff comes back to work following the federal government shutdown.
For more information about Shenandoah National Park,
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