Man evicted from Virginia home in 1935 for a National Park, never cashed his payment

Cliser, flanked by Sheriff E L Lucas (left) and Deputy Claude Shaver (Photos: clisereviction/blogspot) In 1935, Melanchton Cliser and his family were forced out of their 46-acre property in Virginia as the state pushed ahead with plans for what would become Shenandoah National Park. Cliser owned the land along US 211 and also operated a gas station there. When he refused to leave, the local sheriff and his deputies came to remove him and his family.According to Virginia Center for Digital History, the deputies handcuffed Cliser, took the family's belongings out of their home and then sealed the house. The forced eviction was part of a much larger and difficult process in which hundreds of families were removed from land that was being acquired for the future national park.The creation of Shenandoah National Park had been discussed for years. Blue Ridge Mountains offered a scenic location for a national park that would be easily accessible to millions of people living in eastern US cities. The park was also expected to bring economic benefits to Virginia through tourism.But turning the plan into reality meant acquiring thousands of individual pieces of land. Many people living in th...