Virginia woman donated 100 acres that became America's performing arts park

Before it became a stage beneath the stars, Wolf Trap was simply a Virginia farm. But in the 1960s, one woman had a very different dream for the land: a place where music, theater and the performing arts could be part of America’s national park system. Meet Catherine Filene Shouse, a prominent Washington arts advocate and a political insider. A generous gift of land and money helped her vision become a reality: Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in Fairfax County, Virginia, the only national park in the United States dedicated to the performing arts. Scroll down to read the details.A vision born of an arts renaissanceAccording to the Wolf Trap website, Shouse came up with the idea of a performing arts park in 1964, when excitement about culture was building in Washington, DC. The movement had been gathering momentum during the administration of President John F.