My father, Henry Heatwole, wrote the Guide in the mid 1970s, and the Shenandoah Natural History Association published it in 1978. He updated the Guide regularly before he died in 1989. He was a long-time writer and teacher, and the Guide was his way of sharing something that he loved.

In the early 1980's, he bought a personal computer, an Apple IIe, and he became an enthusiastic and creative computer user. I'm sure that if there had been a World Wide Web during his lifetime, he would have shared the Guide with the Internet world, too. In this spirit I'm making this Web version available. I hope that you find it useful and entertaining.

The Shenandoah Natural History Association has made minor revisions to the Guide four times since 1989. This Web version is the same as the one printed in 1997 with only minor corrections. But now the Guide is due for a major update. This on-line version will serve as the starting point for changes leading to printing a Fifth Edition. If you have comments or corrections that would improve this edition, please send them to me at the address below!

Tony Heatwole
Gaithersburg, MD
October, 1997

Update to Web Preface

During the summer of 2000, the Shenandoah Natural History Association (now called the Shenandoah National Park Association, SNPA) decided to stop publishing the Guide, so the print edition is no longer available. SNPA decided that updating the Guide would take considerable time and money that are simply not available. Also, since the Guide was originally published, a number of guides to hiking in Shenandoah National Park have been written, and these guides have provided additional retail competition to the Guide.

ajh
Germantown, MD
November, 2000