Oct, 2025. The Shenandoah National Park Association is one of the official partners of the National…read morePark Service, supporting interpretative and educational programs in Shenandoah National Park (SNP) in Virginia for over 75 years. They operate Visitor Center Park Stores in Shenandoah, which sell a wide variety of national park-themed apparel, adult and kids books (national parks, geology and astronomy, hiking, history, plants and wildlife, Shenandoah), calendars, collection books and stamps, drink ware, gifts and keepsakes, keychains, magnets, maps, night sky items, ornaments, puzzles, and more.
We visited the Byrd Visitor Center (mile marker 51) at the peak of the "leaf peeping season" along Skyline Drive in mid-October, 2025. While we have visited SNP many times through the years to enjoy the vibrant colors of autumn, this was a unique year in that the country was being impacted by a government shutdown, and a large number of federal employees were furloughed. We expected that SNP would be closed at this very popular time but were surprised that the gates were open (without collection of the usual fees). By special agreement with the NPS, the Shenandoah National Park Association provided funds to bring back NPS staff to open two visitor centers for the period October 10-19, which was later extended to Nov 2.
Staff were friendly and helpful. Parking was easy and plentiful.
We generally love the items sold in the Visitors Centers, and appreciate the care given to selling items that focus on the national park experience. We do, however, find them somewhat expensive but remind ourselves when we buy something that we're supporting educational and interpretative programming in the park.