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Shenandoah remembers pioneers who created park PURSUE POLLOCK

October 30, 2007 12:36 am

WHEN thou- sands of Vir- ginians this month join the crowds taking in the fall colors at Shenandoah National Park, Addie Pollock won't be the first thing on their mind.

But the woman who was ahead of her time in the way she saw the environment, business and even spirituality played a key role in the establishment of the park.

Intrigued about the dynamic woman and other barrier-breakers who clustered around what's now the Skyland Lodge, I stopped by a few weeks ago to take a guided tour of Pollock's Massanutten Lodge.

I wasn't disappointed, as my guide, the knowledgeable Holly Mills, spun quite a historical tale of business, romance, capitalism and more.

It came along with a tour of the restored lodge where Pollock entertained guests ranging from Buddhist swamis to top women writers of the day.

For those who aren't familiar with the creation of the park, it helps to know that a wilderness camp of sorts called the Skyland Resort became the public face of the drive to put a national park named Shenandoah in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.

Mills explained that a young George Freeman Pollock was behind the creation of Skyland as a resort destination that, at the turn of the 20th century, was a two-day trip from Washington, D.C.

Our tour leader said Pollock was an inept businessman, but he had quite a flair for turning what had been his father's copper mine property into a wilderness getaway for city dwellers.

Pollard developed rustic cabins on some 50 lots, built dining and recreation halls and made Skyland the center of the social swirl, all while running about wearing a sombrero and buckskin fringe and blowing a trademark bugle that signaled the start of each new adventure or "tramping" hike.

And adventures there were. The park Web site said Pollock planned and engineered "elaborate balls, costume parties, teas, jousts and tournaments, musicales, pageants, and bonfires."

Mills noted that one of the many visitors who would come and stay for weeks at a time was Addie Nairn, an accomplished, independent divorcee from Washington.

Not long after meeting, George and Addie married. Mills noted that she provided the first solid financial advice, backing and direction that her trumpet-blaring husband had ever seen.

Addie would bail George out many times before the two would eventually split. An independent woman in every way, she built her own cottage, the Massanutten Lodge, where two of the lilacs she so loved still bloom today.

Though the couple were estranged longer than they were happy as husband and wife, Addie remained a business presence at Skyland. She was the only woman to take part in the negotiations that brought about the creation of Shenandoah National Park in 1935.

The tour of the lodge, where one side of the dwelling has been restored and outfitted with period furnishings, provides interesting insight into the woman who once bought 100 old-growth hemlock trees near Skyland at $10 a pop to save them from the logger's ax.

From the extensive bookcases in the cottage built and decorated in the "arts and crafts" style to a statue of Buddha on the wall, you get a sense of who this pioneering woman was and how she lived.

On the other side of the lodge, there's display space that explains more about her part in the park's history and about several other women who were drawn by Addie Pollock's presence. At Skyland, new ideas were tossed about like the rattlesnakes George Pollock showed visitors.

From the Bahai faith to the notion of women being successful in professions previously dominated by men, this little enclave at Skyland was a place where new ideas were discussed in the early 1900s.

If you're at the park soon or sometime in the spring, check the schedule of the ranger-led visits to Addie Pollock's lodge.

It's a fascinating peak back to a very different time, and a look at quite an accomplished woman.

Rob Hedelt: 540/374-5415
Email: rhedelt@freelancestar.com