Entrances to Big Meadows and Harry Byrd Visitior Center It is hard to believe that thousands of acreas in this area and others throughout the park used to be prime pasturelands...not the wooded areas that we see today. Farmers moved livestock from the valley to this area when grazing grasses began to die in the summer. Senator Harry. F. Byrd, Sr. led the effort at the state and national government level to establish the Park and the visitors center here tells much of the story about what that took and meant. There are also Ranger guided tours of the Meadow. Skyline Drive (Shenandoah National Park)