" 
 
 . 
 
 ■ 
 
LINCOLN ROOM 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 LIBRARY 
 
 MEMORIAL 
 
 the Class of 1901 
 
 founded by 
 
 HARLAN HOYT HORNER 
 
 and 
 
 HENRIETTA CALHOUN HORNER 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2012 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/artfolioofshenanOOwayl 
 
Art Folio of The Shenandoah Valley 
 
 Matchless Mountains Witching Waters 
 
 Historic Battlefields Celebrated Highways 
 
 Idyllic Landscapes Subterranean Fairylands 
 
 In Virginia's Famous Valley, "The Daughter of the Stars" 
 
 WITH HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE SKETCHES 
 
 Author and Publisher : Printers and Binders : 
 
 JOHN W. WAYLAND THE McCLURE CO., Inc. 
 
 Harrisonburg, Ya. Staunton. Va. 
 
 PHOTOGRAPHERS: 
 Hugh Morrison, Jr., Woodstock; A. N. Carroll, Front Royal; B. H. Jones and A. T. Wright, Berry 
 ville; William Dean and Hugh Morrison, Harrisonburg; F. P. Hammers, Elkton ; E. G. Furry, Bridgevvater 
 F. A. Walter, Staunton ; G. R. Buswell, Elvria, Ohio ; and others. 
 
 MADE IN THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY 
 
Copyright, 1924 
 By John W. Wayland 
 
I1 1.55 
 
 AN ORACLE FROM THE 
 "SEVEN HILLS" 
 
 THE following- interesting article was 
 written in January, 1924, by the editor 
 of the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Evident- 
 ly he had seen the "Daughter of the Stars" 
 and knew whereof he spoke: 
 
 "When Miss Megan Lloyd George re- 
 turned to England, she said the one regret 
 she brought back with her from America was 
 that she did not visit California. She had 
 heard its praises sung throughout her tour 
 of this country; she pictured it as a sort of 
 fairyland skirting our West Coast for the de- 
 light of all who might come to dream amid 
 scenes of unequaled beauty. 
 
 "It never occurred to Miss Megan — it 
 could not have, because she didn't know — 
 
 that within less than a day's journey of her 
 lay a stretch of country as beautiful and as 
 soul-satisfying as any she could find in 
 America. On the Shenandoah Yallev of 
 Virginia nature lavished its artistry. No 
 place in the world is more pleasing to the 
 eye. More than that, its historical appeal 
 certainly cannot be equaled by any tourists' 
 paradise, such as California or Florida. 
 And, in addition to these two attractions, the 
 Valley is rich — an area humming with indus- 
 try and possessing natural resources in 
 amazing profusion. 
 
 "Miss Megan Lloyd George didn't know 
 she had missed America's real wonder-land." 
 
"So he left the plains of Kansas and their bitter woes behind him, 
 Hired a farm by Harper's Ferry, and no one knew where to find him." 
 
 From the days long ago, when Thomas 
 Jefferson admired the natural wonders at 
 Harper's Ferry and wrote of them in his 
 famous "Notes on Virginia," to the pres- 
 ent, the huge gash in the mountains, the 
 peaceful union of the waters, and the event- 
 ful procession of history have all combined 
 to give this marvelous spot charm and re- 
 in iwn. 
 
 One of Nature's great gateways into the 
 Shenandoah Valley and the inviting West, 
 it has admitted explorers, pioneers, settlers, 
 and tourists from the times of Michelle the 
 Frenchman, Van Meter the Dutchman, Jost 
 Hite the German, and George Washington 
 the Englishman. Long before the white 
 man's face was ever seen there the Red Men 
 of the South and of the North passed and re- 
 passed in peace and in war. 
 
 1 1 was almost at this gateway in the 
 mountains that Stonewall Jackson paused in 
 May of 1862 in his swift pursuit of Banks; 
 and here it was later the same year that he 
 received the capitulation of the strong gar- 
 rison just in time to allow him and his war- 
 worn veterans to rush across the Potomac 
 and help hold the thin gray lines on the 
 bloody hills of Antietam. 
 
 John Brown's "Fort" has been torn away 
 to make room for travel and trade, but the 
 traditions of Old Osawatomie and his fol- 
 lowers are still in the air. Tablets and 
 monuments tell the story of the years and 
 surcharge the present with spirits of the 
 past. 
 
 Harper's Ferry is one of the great won- 
 der spots of America. 
 
Harper's Ferry — The Potomac on the Left 
 
"Than yonder rock-ribbed hills and wooded heights, 
 No worthier theme could poet's pen inspire." 
 
 Most of the pictures of Harper's Ferry 
 are "close-ups." The one on the opposite 
 page was made specially for this work to 
 show the beautiful setting of the Gap in the 
 surrounding landscape. This picture was 
 photographed a mile southwest of the Ferry, 
 on the road towards Halltown and Charles 
 Town, just at the turn of the road on the hill. 
 
 It is not surprising that in a land like this 
 Daniel Bedinger Lucas, Virginia Lucas, 
 Danske Dandridge, Philip Pendleton Cooke, 
 and others should be inspired to poetry. Not 
 ineptly has this region been styled the 
 "Alsace-Lorraine of Virginia." Now in 
 West Virginia, it has the geography and 
 traditions of the Old Dominion. 
 
 Splendid landscapes, roaring trunk-lines 
 of railway, broad and smooth highways, fer- 
 tile farms, busy factories, and progressive 
 people make this "land of dreams" a land of 
 promise and fulfilment. 
 
 In a long rectangle bounded on three 
 sides by the Shenandoah, the Potomac, and 
 the Opequon, are Harper's Ferry, Bolivar, 
 Shepherdstown, Shenandoah Junction, 
 Charles Town, and Berryville. A few miles 
 to the west are Martinsburg and Winches- 
 ter. Everywhere are thrifty villages and 
 well-tilled farms. Abundant deposits of 
 Shenandoah limestone make rich soil, hard 
 roads, massive buildings, and thriving in- 
 dustries. 
 
Harper's Ferry Gap, From the Road Towards Charles Town 
 
"Yes, they called him 'Crazy Rumsey,' 
 And they thought that he was dead, 
 But his dreams are floating cities, 
 And we follow where he led." 
 
 A hundred feet above the level of the Po- 
 tomac, at Shepherdstown, W. Va., stands 
 the tall shaft that tells the world of James 
 Rumsey, one of the early makers of steam- 
 boats. In December, 1787, he ran his won- 
 derful little boat against the current of the 
 river, around the picturesque Horseshoe 
 Bend, while admiring multitudes scrambled 
 along the rugged shores in breathless eager- 
 ness. 
 
 This was twenty years before Robert 
 Fulton's Clermont ran on the Hudson. To 
 both of these men poverty and incredulity 
 were millstones for many years; to one of 
 them Fate at last was kind, but to the other 
 the years brought only disappointment to 
 darken the face of promise. More than once 
 
 in America and in Europe his dreams seemed 
 on the point of coming true, but death inter- 
 posed and cut short his work. He died in 
 London in 1792. 
 
 In 1839 the legislature of Kentucky pre- 
 sented a gold medal to Rumsey's son in token 
 of its appreciation of the inventor's services; 
 and within recent years this towering shaft 
 has been raised to his memory on the banks 
 of the Potomac, where, in the meager years 
 of long ago, the dreamer paced back and 
 forth, while a great vision was striving in 
 his soul for birth. 
 
 In the library of Shepherd College, at 
 Shepherdstown, is a fine collection of books 
 and other sources of information regarding 
 Rumsey and his work. 
 
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"Fair Opequon, cool Opequon, 
 
 Boughs caress thy pebbled strand ; 
 Out the past come Love and Romance, 
 Ling'ring in Opequon-Land." 
 
 Please pronounce it as if it were spelled 
 "Opeckon," with the accent on "peck." It 
 is an Indian name, one of the few that linger 
 in Beautiful Valley. "Shenandoah," "Mas- 
 sanutten," "Opequon," "Potomac," and 
 "Tuscarora" are about all of those native 
 terms of music that the white man has saved 
 hereabouts. Let us preserve and cherish 
 them all. 
 
 The Opequon heads in the western parts 
 of Frederick County, flows down southeast- 
 wardly past Bartonsville to the county line 
 between Frederick and Clarke, and thence 
 turns into a direct course northeastward, fol- 
 lowing it some forty miles to the Potomac, 
 dividing first the counties of Frederick and 
 
 Clarke in Virginia, then the counties of Jeff- 
 erson and Berkeley in West Virginia. 
 
 The old stone bridge shown in the oppo- 
 site picture spans the Opequon near Mar- 
 tinsburg, the county-seat of Berkeley Coun- 
 ty. Tt was built in the days when men took 
 time to build for time. Tt reminds the ob- 
 server very much of the famous old "Jug 
 Bridge'' that carries a great highway across 
 the Monocacy just outside of Frederick, 
 Maryland. 
 
 Whether the Opequon is a creek or a 
 river, we shall not pause to argue. It is an 
 abundant and beautiful stream, at any rate, 
 and it waters a fertile and beautiful land. 
 
Bridge Over the Opequon, Near Martinsburg 
 
"For Old Brown, 
 Osawatomie Brown, 
 Mad as he was, knew texts enough to wear a parson's gown." 
 
 In 1859 and 1922, as well as at other 
 times, this old brick court house at Charles 
 Town, Jefferson County, West Virginia, has 
 been the theatre of stirring scenes. When 
 John Brown was tried therein the country 
 was stirred from end to end; and when re- 
 cently the mine men of the western regions 
 of the state were on trial in the same old 
 building the interest of the country at large 
 was hardly less intense. 
 
 Charles Town, named, it is said, in honor 
 of Charles Washington, is the prosperous 
 center of a rich and beautiful farming dis- 
 trict. The charm of the landscape is en- 
 hanced by song and story. For generations 
 
 the region has been historic. Different mem- 
 bers of the Washington family have been 
 residents of the community; Horatio Gates 
 and Charles Lee were nearby neighbors ; the 
 Darkes and the Bedingers lived not far 
 away. At Harewood, only a mile or two 
 outside the town, Dolly Payne Todd became 
 the wife of James Madison. 
 
 Moreover, Charles Town and the district 
 thereabouts has not lacked sons and daugh- 
 ters to chant its praises. The gift of song 
 seems native to the soil. 'Tis a land to in- 
 spire dreaming. Poets, writers of history, 
 soldiers, and jurists have given it charm and 
 distinction. To paraphrase one of them, 
 
 "They've swept across the field of Mars 
 And bowed to fame amid the stars." 
 
 St. Hilda's Hall, a high class school for 
 2-irls is one of the cultural attractions of 
 
 Charles Town. The B. & O. and the N. & W. 
 railways make the town easily accessible. 
 
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"A softer glow on hill and stream — 
 Within my soul a hush : 
 A breath, a whisper, and a dream." 
 
 White Post and Greenway Court, in the 
 southwest corner of Clark County, are names 
 to conjure with. For generations they have 
 been known in song and story. In the days 
 when the wilderness wanderer needed the 
 sign on the white post to find his way to 
 Greenway Court, that far retreat may have 
 been a Lethe for disappointed love. Soon it 
 became the open door to fame for the young 
 surveyor from Tidewater. Shortly there- 
 after Braddock and his ill-fated veterans re- 
 joiced for a brief season in its hospitality. 
 
 Almost the only structure that remains 
 at Greenway Court today to recall to us the 
 
 times of Washington is the ancient stone 
 "Office." In this building it is probable that 
 the young surveyor and his employer, Lord 
 Fairfax, would confer with the land-buyers 
 of colonial days. There the maps and the 
 surveying instruments were presumably 
 kept. And it bids fair to stand another cen- 
 tury or two as a reminder of fruitful, though 
 strenuous, years. 
 
 In October, 1853, Washington Irving 
 paid a visit to Greenway Court and wrote 
 about it in his charming style. More than 
 one novelist and poet has found here rich 
 traditions of the past. 
 
Washington Office at Greenway Court 
 
'Once by a ruined church they rode. 
 Round which a churchyard lay; 
 
 Strange spectres stood among the graves, 
 In judgment-like array." 
 
 "Old Chapel" is not a "ruined church" by 
 any means, for all of its hundred and thirty- 
 odd years; but it echoes to the tread of wor- 
 shipers now only once a year. It is one of 
 the historic places of Clark County that have 
 chained the memories and stirred the fancies 
 of many generations. 
 
 John Esten Cooke, the romancer of the 
 Civil War, has immortalized this quaint rest- 
 ing-place of the dead in more than one of his 
 novels. His body rests beneath the quiet 
 shades of the interlacing trees. Edmund 
 
 Randolph, another whom fame has crowned, 
 is also buried here. The most interesting 
 inscription in the churchyard, no doubt, is 
 that which may be laboriously deciphered 
 upon the tomb of Winnifred, the faithful 
 wife of Major Marquis Calmes. 
 
 No one who passes through the region of 
 Millwood or Berryville should fail to visit 
 Old Chapel. For additional particulars re- 
 garding" this cherished landmark, see Way- 
 land's "Scenic and Historical Guide to the 
 Shenandoah Valley," pages 24 and 25. 
 
Old Chapel, Between Berryville and Millwood 
 
"Voices linger at old Audley, 
 
 Sounding low from out the past, 
 Like soft music in the twilight, 
 
 With a sweetness that shall last." 
 
 In no part of Virginia can the lover of 
 historic old homesteads find keener delight 
 than in the region around Berryville, Win- 
 chester, Millwood, and Bartonsville. 
 
 When young George Washington was a 
 surveyor for Lord Fairfax he must have 
 noted with interest the fertile rolling plains 
 between Opequon and the Shenandoah; and 
 when Lawrence Lewis, the husband of Nellie 
 Custis, needed a farm Washington directed 
 him to the fine lands just east of Berryville. 
 There the quaint, comfortable homestead 
 Audley was built. And thither after the 
 death of her husband in 1830, Nellis Custis 
 
 Lewis came to live and there she made her 
 home till her death in 1852. "Nellie's Room" 
 is today the chamber of honor for favored 
 guests. 
 
 Audley remained in the hands of the 
 Lewis family till 1902, when it was pur- 
 chased from the heirs of Daingerfield Lewis 
 by Archibald Cummins. In 1921 Mr. B. B. 
 Jones, the present owner, bought the place 
 from Mr. Cummins. 
 
 Only a short distance west of Audley is 
 Soldier's Rest, a favorite home of General 
 Daniel Morgan. Saratoga, another Morgan 
 home, is between Millwood and Boyce. 
 
Audley. Once the Home of Nellie Custis 
 
" 'I am Sir Fontaine,' spoke the knight, 
 'Now mount in haste,' said he, 
 'For thou shalt ride this New-Year tide 
 Across the land with me.' " 
 
 Ever since the days when Alexander 
 Spotswood and his Knights of the Horse- 
 shoe rode across the Blue Ridge and into the 
 Valley the men of Northern Virginia have 
 been expert horsemen. George Washing- 
 ton himself was a familiar figure on horse- 
 back in the region of Berryville, Winchester, 
 and Greenway Court. Thomas Jefferson, 
 like Washington, was a lover of horses and 
 doubtless rode into the Valley more than 
 once. In the Civil War days the troopers 
 who followed Ashby, Imboden, Rosser, and 
 Mosby were recruited largely from the men 
 
 of the Shenandoah Valley. General Lee and 
 his famous horse Traveler were often seen 
 west of the Blue Ridge in the martial Sixties. 
 
 In recent years the breeding of thorough- 
 breds has assumed large proportions in many 
 sections of the Valley. In Clark County es- 
 pecially great horse farms are numerous. 
 Audley, Pagebrook, Carter Hall, Saratoga, 
 and others are well known as the homes of 
 fleet four-footed beauties of the turf. 
 
 The opposite picture shows a group of 
 famous lineage on Audley Farm, just east of 
 Berryville. 
 
Thoroughbreds on a Clark County Farm 
 
"Twas near the time when Braddock's army passed 
 The rugged mountains and the trackless vast. 
 O'er rocks, o'er hills, o'er crags, o'er cliffs they go 
 And near Monongahela meet the foe." 
 
 In the historic old town of Winchester, 
 at the corner of Braddock Street and Cork, 
 stands a quaint old house around which the 
 snows of many winters have melted at the 
 call of the grass and flowers. It is familiarly 
 known as "Washington's Headquarters." 
 
 Past this very spot — past this very old 
 building in all probability — a large part of 
 Braddock's army passed on that ill-fated 
 march westward in 1755; and in this rough 
 stone house, after Braddock's defeat, Wash- 
 ington had his headquarters while he was di- 
 recting the construction of Fort Loudoun on 
 
 a nearby hill. The garrison of the post, 
 which was charged with the defence of the 
 frontier, was camped in the adjacent square. 
 Remains of old Fort Loudoun may still 
 be seen at Fort Loudoun Seminary ; and the 
 new George Washington Hotel will afford 
 luxurious accommodations for the visitors 
 who may wish to look over the city and in- 
 spect the relics in the little old house on the 
 corner. Washington's Headquarters today 
 is an interesting museum. The old cannon 
 just outside point the way that Braddock's 
 soldiers followed in those days of long ago. 
 
Washington's Headquarters at Winchester 
 
"When Youth, at the gates of Life, cried aloud 
 for Knowledge, Wisdom came out of the ages and 
 gave him a book." 
 
 The Handley Library is a free public 
 library, a gift to the city of Winchester by 
 Judge John Handley of Scranton, Pa. The 
 splendid building" is constructed of Indiana 
 limestone and cost ( 1910) without equip- 
 ment $1 50,000. Tt is situated on a spacious 
 lot at the corner of liraddock Street and 
 Piccadilly, with a lawn artistically planted 
 with shrubbery and trees. 
 
 In addition to reading" and reference 
 rooms, the building contains a lecture hall, 
 conference rooms, and several smaller rooms 
 for special study work. The lecture hall, 
 seating 300, is equipped with a high grade 
 dissolving stereopticon. 
 
 There are 15,000 volumes in the library 
 on open shelves for free circulation to resi- 
 dents of the town, and about 1,000 volumes 
 are added yearly. Serving a population of 
 7.500, the circulation of books has increased 
 
 from 24,341 in 1914 to 56,297 in 1923. 
 Twenty daily newspapers from ten principal 
 cities of the United States are on file in the 
 reading room. There are also seventy -five 
 magazines, including ten English periodi- 
 cals. 
 
 The collection of reference books is es- 
 pecially rich and is much used. Circulating 
 books are sent regularly to patrons in 
 Clarke, Warren, Shenandoah, Fairfax, and 
 Alexandria counties in Virginia, and Jeffer- 
 son, Berkeley, and Hampshire counties in 
 West Virginia. Scores of school children 
 come daily for help with their essays, de- 
 bates, and other projects. 
 
 A branch library for the use of the col- 
 ored people of the city was opened in Octo- 
 ber, 1921, in the Douglass school building, 
 and it is proving of much service, especially 
 to the school children. 
 
Handley Library, Winchester, Virginia 
 
"The gift of Youth in long procession 
 Can never pass — Youth with its eternal dream." 
 
 The new Handley school building is lo- 
 cated on seventy-two acres which border the 
 historic Valley Pike. Tt has been planned to 
 incorporate the most recent developments in 
 school architecture together with some origi- 
 nalities, and is serving as a model for many 
 other school systems. 
 
 It is of the one story type, colonial brick, 
 571 feet long by 180 feet deep, and stands 
 back 1,200 feet from the Pike. Tt accommo- 
 dates 1,500 pupils and has in addition to the 
 fifty regular and special class rooms an ath- 
 letic stadium and recreation grounds, an 
 auditorium seating 1,500, a gymnasium, a 
 large indoor play court, a dispensary with 
 school nurse offices, administration offices, 
 and open air class room. It cost about 
 $800,000, exclusive of the site. All class 
 rooms are provided with over-head light, 
 and those used by the younger pupils have 
 
 outdoor exits and are equipped with ward- 
 robes which have a special drying device for 
 drying wraps in wet weather. 
 
 The Handley School is open each week 
 day, and there is a guide on hand on Sunday. 
 Visitors are always welcome and will be 
 furnished at all times with a guide. 
 
 In the educational development of the 
 Handley system it has been the policy to 
 avoid the strait-jacket methods of former 
 times and to adapt both subject matter and 
 methods to the needs of the community and 
 the pupils. The Handley Schools make up 
 the public city system of Winchester and are 
 maintained from an endowment fund of 
 $1,200,000, derived from the residuary be- 
 quest of Judge John Handley, in addition to 
 the amounts received from local and state 
 taxation. 
 
Handley School, Winchester, Virginia 
 
"Storied Springdale, by Opequon, 
 
 While the constant waters flow, 
 May the years rest lightly on thee, 
 And the breezes gently blow." 
 
 Tn 1731 or 1732 Jost Hite, later known as 
 the "Old German Baron," led a party of set- 
 tlers into the Shenandoah Valley and lo- 
 cated them in the region between Winches- 
 ter and Strasburg. The open land was be- 
 fore them and they chose the best. The 
 Bowmans, the Chrismans, and the Frohmans 
 were among that band of hardy pioneers. 
 
 Locating at Springdale, Hite soon estab- 
 lished a wayside inn which provided hospi- 
 tality for the pilgrims of the lonely trails. 
 George Washington, while a surveyor for 
 Lord Fairfax, stopped more than once with 
 "Captain Hite." 
 
 In 1753 Colonel John Hite, a son of Jost, 
 built the substantial dwelling shown in the 
 picture. It is constructed of the famous 
 Shenandoah limestone, and stands on the 
 
 east side of the celebrated Valley Turnpike, 
 six miles out of Winchester. Beside the 
 spring, between the mansion house and the 
 Opequon Creek, may be seen the ruins of an 
 older house, the very one, in all probability, 
 in which the "Old German Baron" enter- 
 tained Washington and other guests of his 
 day. 
 
 No doubt Washington was often a guest 
 in the house that is now standing, inasmuch 
 as it was completed when he was only twen- 
 ty-one or twenty-two years old. When the 
 young colonel was supervising the building 
 of Fort Loudoun in Winchester, during the 
 French and Indian War, this house had al- 
 ready been occupied by Colonel Hite and his 
 family some three or four years. 
 
X 
 
 Old Hite House at Springdale, Near Winchester 
 
"God hewed out a fortress in the mountains, 
 He hedged it with the everlasting hills." 
 
 A dozen miles of beauty, hidden securely 
 within the Massanutten ranges, with one 
 gate at Edinburg, another at Waterlick, be- 
 tween Strasburg and Front Royal, with 
 homes and cherished hearth tires, with wat- 
 erfalls and sylvan glens — this is Powell's 
 Fort. 
 
 The stranger passing along the famous 
 Valley Turnpike, or up and down the Valley 
 on the side of Luray and Front Royal, gazes 
 with admiration upon the beautiful moun- 
 tain that shears the skyline all along the 
 way, but he never dreams of this quiet Ar- 
 cadia within its sheltered folds. 
 
 Tradition tells of Powell the pioneer, se- 
 
 cure in his fastnesses, who mined silver and 
 minted it, and who always eluded the offi- 
 cers of the law when they sought to appre- 
 hend him. The little valley in the moun- 
 tains was a fortress for Old Man Powell — so 
 the stories go; and it is even said that Wash- 
 ington, in the dark days of the Revolution, 
 thought sometimes of leading his war-worn 
 veterans into Powell's stronghold to make a 
 last desperate stand. 
 
 In the days of the Civil War romance and 
 tragedy added not a little to the traditions of 
 Powell's Fort. The summer visitor will find 
 much to interest him in this little Switzer- 
 land, so near his path and yet so little known. 
 
In Powell's Fort, Massanutten Mountain 
 
"Yes, the Valley has a voice, and it speaks 
 In the crystal waters flowing — and the peaks ; 
 We can hear it as we listen, 
 'Mid the flowers or snows that glisten — 
 Yes, the Valley has a voice." 
 
 Passage Creek, in Powell's Fort, is one of 
 the numerous streams that lave the foothills 
 of the Shenandoah V alley, carrying down 
 over rocky beds the waters of the perennial 
 springs in the mountains. It heads far up in 
 Powell's Fort, breaks out of the narrow val- 
 ley in joyful cascades near Waterlick, be- 
 tween Strasburg and Riverton, and shortly 
 mingles its sparkling waters with the North 
 Branch of the Shenandoah River, near the 
 point where Cedar Creek comes in from the 
 other side. 
 
 The natural scenery along both these 
 streams, Passage Creek and Cedar Creek, is 
 wild, rugged, and indescribably beautiful. 
 The former drains the gorge in the Massa- 
 nutten range, the latter carries down into 
 the Valley the cool springs of the Alle- 
 ghanies. 
 
 A summer in Powell's Fort is a sedative 
 to jangling nerves and a tonic to the soul. 
 Within a few hours' ride of great centers of 
 population, it will some day be made ready 
 for the tired thousands who will annually 
 seek its quiet shades. 
 
"They climbed the blue embattled hills, 
 Against uncounted foes, 
 And planted there, in valleys fair, 
 The lily and the rose." 
 
 Front Royal, the county-seat of Warren 
 County, occupies a strategic position, wheth- 
 er in war or in peace. Two famous passes 
 in the Blue Ridge open at her gates — Ma- 
 nassas Gap, through which come a high- 
 way and the Southern Railroad from Wash- 
 ington, and Chester Gap, through which a 
 splendid automobile road connects the Val- 
 ley with Warrenton, Culpeper, and Char- 
 lottesville. 
 
 Riverton, the twin town, is situated just 
 across the hill northwestward from Front 
 Royal, at the confluence of the waters and 
 the railways. There the North Branch of 
 the Shenandoah meanders around the rug- 
 ged shoulders of the Massanutten and joins 
 the South Branch in the limestone gorge, and 
 there the Norfolk and Western Railway, be- 
 tween Hagerstown and Roanoke, crosses the 
 
 Washington and Harrisonburg branch of 
 the Southern. 
 
 The scenery at Riverton and Front Royal 
 is bold and beautiful. The views of rivers, 
 valleys, and mountains are heightened with 
 charm and variety. Whether one looks 
 westward, towards the Massanutten, or east- 
 ward towards the Blue Ridge, the glory of 
 it all is inspiring and the matchless harmony 
 is restful and satisfying. 
 
 The picture on the opposite page is the 
 reproduction of a photograph made from one 
 of the balconies of Randolph-Macon Acad- 
 emy, which crowns a hill on the western bor- 
 ders of Front Royal. The camera was point- 
 ing down across the town and on southeast- 
 ward into Chester Gap in the Blue Ridge 
 Mountains. 
 
Front Royal and Chester Gat. From Academy Him. 
 
"When sinks the sun behind Virginia hills, 
 And twilight hovers o'er the Valley cool, 
 I bid goodnight to every little flower 
 That nods beside my homeward path." 
 
 A few miles above Front Royal and Riv- 
 erton, on the South Branch of the Shenan- 
 doah River, is Gooney Manor. For years it 
 has been a synonym for agricultural fertility 
 and landscape beauty. 
 
 In the picture on the opposite page one 
 looks up the stream (the main stream of the 
 Shenandoah) and beyond towards the Mas- 
 sanutten Mountain. In old deeds for land 
 between the Blue Ridge and the Massanut- 
 ten range the latter is sometimes called the 
 "North Mountain." In the oldest extant 
 map of the region, made by Louis Michelle 
 in 1707, the Massanutten is designated as 
 
 "'the Mountains of Cenuntua." This is ob- 
 viously a form of "Shenandoah." 
 
 From the trail route marked on Mich- 
 elle's map, and the little tent-pictures that 
 denote resting places, it is evident that this 
 bold explorer camped at or near Gooney 
 Manor. 
 
 In the days before the railroads were 
 built it was a common thing to see flatboats 
 floating down the Shenandoah, heavily laden 
 with the products of Valley farms and fur- 
 naces, bound for Harper's Ferry and some- 
 times for Washington and Baltimore. 
 
The Shenandoah at Gooney Manor 
 
"Swiftly flows the little river, 
 
 Beauteous 'Daughter of the Stars,' 
 Past the fields once stained and crimson — 
 Here the 'Stripes' and there the 'Bars.' 
 
 At this particular point the Shenandoah 
 ( North Fork, just above Strasburg) is flow- 
 ing directly towards the Massanutten Moun- 
 tain. At the base of the mountain it turns 
 sharply to the left and girdles the end of the 
 range towards Riverton and Front Royal. 
 
 This picture shows the landscape mid- 
 way between the battlefields of Cedar Creek 
 (to the left ) and Fisher's Hill ( to the right ). 
 In making his attack on Sheridan before day- 
 light on October 19, 1864, Early sent Gordon 
 on a wide flank movement. Gordon led his 
 men from the vicinity of Fisher's Flill over 
 against the shoulder of the Masaanutten, 
 thence northeastward across the river and 
 Cedar Creek, up through the rugged lime- 
 stone hills, and fell upon the sleeping Fed- 
 erals near the Ramseur Monument and the 
 Belle Grove Farm, it was Stonewall Jack- 
 
 son's old trick, and right well Gordon and 
 his men played it. 
 
 Just recently the town of Strasburg has 
 tunnelled through the range of the Massa- 
 nutten shown in this picture and has 
 brought a fresh and abundant water supply 
 Out of Powell's Fort, the Arcadian valley 
 that lies within the mountain ranges. It was 
 in that same little valley, Powell's Fort, it 
 is said, that Washington sometimes thought 
 of making a last stand in the dark days of 
 the Revolution, if worst came to worst. 
 
 On the peak of this mountain both Blue 
 and Gray had signal stations during the 
 Civil War. Doubtless the Red Men, in 
 times prehistoric, shot their smoke signals 
 towards the stars from the same rugged 
 heights. 
 
The Shenandoah and the Massanutten, at Strasburg 
 
"Tell me of a land that gave ever bravest of the brave, 
 First to hail the star of freedom in the a;loam." 
 
 The picture opposite was photographed 
 on the parade ground of Massanutten Mili- 
 tary Academy, just at the south end of the 
 historic old town of Woodstock, in Shenan- 
 doah County. 
 
 The mountain gap in the distance, right 
 behind the tall flagstaff, is the Edinburg Gap 
 in the Massanutten Mountain, leading into 
 the upper end of the celebrated Powell's 
 Fort. A fifteen-mile line drawn straight 
 from the flagstaff through the Gap would 
 probably strike the town of Luray or the 
 grounds of Luray Caverns. 
 
 Massanutten Academy had its beginning 
 years ago in the house that was formerly 
 the home of U. S. Senator H. H. Riddleber- 
 ger. This old homestead is still preserved 
 on the campus as part of the general scheme 
 of buildings. It stands hard by the Valley 
 
 Turnpike, on the west side, on a gentle 
 eminence that overlooks the beautiful land- 
 scape. 
 
 Woodstock was first called Miller's 
 Town, and was laid off on the lands of Jacob 
 Miller in the year 1761. Tt was the site of a 
 fort to which the settlers of the neighbor- 
 hood fled when menaced by invading bands 
 of hostile Indians. Early in the Revolution 
 Miller's Town was the scene of the dramatic 
 incident in which the young Pastor Muhlen- 
 berg threw off his clerical robe to show the 
 soldier's uniform beneath it. 
 
 The old limestone court house at Wood- 
 stock, erected in 1791, is one of the best 
 known landmarks of the Valley, and is the 
 oldest courthouse in Northern Virginia, 
 west of the Blue Ridge. 
 
Retreat Formation, Massanutten Military Academy 
 
"Shendo's waters gently flow 
 In the summer's noontide glow, 
 And the shadows idly play 
 Round my dream-boat's mystic way." 
 
 Between the Valley Turnpike and the 
 Massanutten Mountain, east of Woodstock, 
 the Shenandoah River (North Branch) 
 makes one giant loop after another on its 
 sinuous way down the Valley towards Fish- 
 er's Hill and Strasburg. Seven of these huge 
 folds in the stream's bed multiply the 
 straight line distance between Edinburg and 
 Strasburg by two or three. 
 
 Hollingsworth's Ford, one of the spots 
 along the stream where lovers fain would 
 linger, and where even the crabbed old cynic 
 can hardly escape a whisper of romance, is 
 near the point where the road from Wood- 
 stock cuts across the Yallev towards the 
 
 Massanutten, and scaling the precipitous 
 wall by zigzag angles breaks over into 
 Powell's Fort where Nature left no gateway. 
 From the top of the Massanutten, at the 
 point where the road scales the summit of 
 the long ridge, the panorama of the Valley 
 westward is splendid beyond description. 
 The winding miles of river at the foot of the 
 mountain, the farm lands marked off in 
 scpiares of green and brown, the town of 
 Woodstock nestling in its groves of maples, 
 and the angular Alleghanies, flung all along 
 the far western horizon, unite to form a 
 scene that entrances the eye and enchains 
 the fancv. 
 
Hollingsworth's Ford, Shenandoah River, Near Woodstock 
 
"Here Nature's bold handiwork is caressed and garlanded by Beauty.' 
 
 Nowhere on all the "Long Gray Trail" 
 from Harper's Ferry to the Natural Bridge 
 is there a more profuse outpouring of rug- 
 ged wonders or a more fascinating variety 
 than may be seen at Narrow Passage, mid- 
 way between Woodstock and Edinburgh in 
 Shenandoah County. 
 
 But the stranger here, as at the Natural 
 Bridge, might pass all unaware of many of 
 the wonders hidden within a stone's cast of 
 the roadway. The high railway bridge a 
 short distance to the west might so thor- 
 oughly attract his attention that the river 
 canon on the east would escape notice alto- 
 gether. 
 
 To appreciate the wonder and the beauty 
 here combined one must pause and descend 
 into the rocky gorge on the east side of the 
 Pike and walk out on the foot bridge that 
 spans the rapid little river. Then he should 
 climb the hill and look down into the gorge 
 that the river has cut into the cliffs on its 
 way out from the Massanutten. The pic- 
 ture opposite shows the scene at this point. 
 
 Narrow Passage is a high wall of rock 
 between the river and a creek — a natural 
 causeway just wide enough for the road. In 
 earlier days the track was more constricted 
 than at present. Tn Indian times this nar- 
 row pass was the scene of more than one 
 tragedy. 
 
The Shenandoah at Narrow Passage 
 
"Thus in my dream-boat drifting 
 Far from familiar things, 
 I enter royal castles, 
 
 Sit down with queens and kings. 
 
 The young lady who wrote the foregoing 
 lines had come to the Valley, "The Daughter 
 of the Stars," from a far country where there 
 are no mountains and where the rivers are 
 not always like mirrors of crystal. To be 
 sure, the Shenandoah is muddy at times, and 
 once or twice in a generation, as for example 
 in 1870 and again in 1877, it breaks out of 
 its banks and stops travel on the Pike at 
 such a place as this. 
 
 This picture was taken just half a mile 
 above the famous old homestead of Red 
 Banks, in Shenandoah County. There the 
 Pittmans, their "heirs and assigns," have 
 lived for many years. The old house was 
 built in 1802 by Lawrence Pittman, whose 
 ancestor had come to the Shenandoah Val- 
 
 ley sixty years earlier from Bingen on the 
 Rhine. 
 
 In the days when stage coaches ran up 
 and down the Pike on regular schedules and 
 the farmers of the Valley "wagoned" to 
 Alexandria and Winchester, Red Banks was 
 a favorite stopping-place. General Andrew 
 Jackson and Madame Jerome Bonaparte are 
 still named in the family traditions as among 
 the noted guests of olden days. There is 
 scarcely a doubt that Henry Clay, Abraham 
 Lincoln, and many another of renown passed 
 this way in ante-bellum years. During the 
 Civil War every army of Blue or Gray that 
 entered this part of the Valley passed and 
 often repassed this trail beside the waters. 
 
 The mountain in the picture is the Mas- 
 sanutten. 
 
The Shenandoah at Red Banks 
 
'Where dancing waters lead the way 
 To fairyland and holiday." 
 
 One of the few "old-timey" wooden 
 bridges that still span the Shenandoah is 
 shown in the picture on the opposite page. 
 It carries the road out of Meem's Bottom to 
 Strathmoor beyond the wooded bluff on the 
 left. Years ago all the bridges of the region 
 were of this style and structure. The one a 
 mile farther down the river, where the Val- 
 ley Pike crosses, was long of this type. Such 
 a one the Blue and the Gray fought over and 
 burned and such a one was built there again, 
 remaining until a few years ago when the 
 present iron structure took its place. 
 
 The charming rural scene of which the 
 bridge in the picture forms a striking fea- 
 ture, is about three-quarters of a mile west 
 of the Valley Pike, at the extreme west side 
 
 of Meem's Bottom. It (the bridge at least) 
 can be seen from the highway, and it can 
 easily be located by the private road that 
 leads from the Pike across the Bottom to 
 Strathmoor, the splendid old manor house 
 on the plateau. 
 
 The straight roadway through Meem's 
 Bottom tempts the driver to speed, but the 
 tourist who enjoys the contemplation of 
 beauty combined with plenty should linger a 
 moment. It is hard to tell when this match- 
 less landscape is at its best — in summer 
 green or autumn gold. Corn, wheat, and al- 
 falfa grow here in profusion ; and on the sur- 
 rounding hills are apple orchards that seem 
 endless. 
 

 Bridge at Strath moor, Meem's Bottom 
 
"The shadows play across the hills 
 
 Of Shendo Land ; 
 The waters leap in tuneful rills, 
 
 On either hand, 
 While far below in deeper shadows hide 
 The fairies of an ancient wonder-tide." 
 
 As one drives along the Valley Pike on or 
 in the vicinity of Rude's Hill, he sees Shen- 
 andoah Caverns Inn on a slope of Turkey 
 Knob a mile to the west. Nearby he ob- 
 serves the power house; and at night he sees 
 the row of brilliant electric lights leading up 
 the hill to the very entrance of the Caverns. 
 If he travels by the railway he finds that the 
 trains stop only a few hundred yards from 
 the entrance. 
 
 For many years Shenandoah Caverns 
 were known to a few persons, but it was 
 only in 1922 that they were made accessible 
 to the public with the present splendid equip- 
 ment. Since that date thousands have come 
 to admire and have departed to remember 
 and to wonder. To unfold the beauties of 
 these caverns required the installation of an 
 electric lighting system sufficient to illumi- 
 
 nate a town of two thousand people, and the 
 completeness of the provision is remarkable. 
 There are more miles of electric cables in 
 Shenandoah Caverns, it is said, than may be 
 found in any other caverns in the world. 
 
 The wide paths of this subterranean won- 
 derland are made of crushed stone, and the 
 air is free from dampness. The tempera- 
 ture is such that no change of clothing is re- 
 quired. 
 
 That particular part of the Valley sur- 
 rounding the Caverns is justly celebrated. 
 As one visitor expressed it, "J llst as the 
 Shenandoah Valley is the most beautiful 
 part of the South, so the environs of the 
 Shenandoah Caverns are the most beautiful 
 of the Valley, and the Grotto of the Gods is 
 the greatest wonder in this wonderland." 
 
Shenandoah Caverns and Hotel 
 
"Like giant wraiths 
 Rushed down impetuously, were seized at once 
 By sudden frost, and with all their hoary locks 
 Stood still!" 
 
 The world travelers who have sought the 
 unusual and the beautiful and have seen Na- 
 ture at her best in coral seas and in the frozen 
 North have stood entranced before the Dia- 
 mond Cascade in the Shenandoah Caverns. 
 A translucent cataract many feet high, set 
 with a million jewels whose facets sparkle 
 and scintillate in the glow of softened lights, 
 paused an instant and was caught in the 
 smile of beauty. 
 
 And not far away are the Frost King's 
 Palace, Rainbow Lake, the Grove of the 
 Druids, and the Hanging Gardens of Baby- 
 lon. At each of these we pause and wonder 
 how Nature could make one so beautiful and 
 still have untouched glories for the others. 
 
 The Hunter's Lodge, the Indian Wigwam, 
 and the Replica of the Capitol Dome at 
 Washington are only a few of the other 
 wonders with which this palace of the fairies 
 has been decorated. 
 
 A feature of Shenandoah Caverns is the 
 Zoo. In the magic riot of the rocks the vis- 
 itor may see outlined in perpetual pose of 
 silence birds of the air and beasts of the field. 
 And there are glaciers, pure and white, and 
 an Inferno, such as a Dante might have 
 shuddered to conceive, far down a rock- 
 strewn gulch ; and further on a figure in the 
 silent attitude of prayer, waiting, it almost 
 seems, to hear the Angelus from a nearby 
 cathedral. 
 
Diamond Cascade, Shenandoah Caverns 
 
"When the apple trees 
 And the orchards are 
 
 are blooming in the springtime, 
 aglow with pink and white." 
 
 The apple orchards of the Shenandoah 
 Valley are a glory and a joy. Incidentally, 
 they are also a treasure trove of wealth and 
 an inexhaustible source of luscious food sup- 
 ply. The blossoms in the springtime fill the 
 Valley with beauty and fragrance; the acres 
 of rustling verdure in the summer refresh 
 the landscape with motion and color; and the 
 heavy clusters of red and gold in the autumn 
 crown the year with contentment and the 
 grateful spirit of Thanksgiving. 
 
 For many years the region around Win- 
 chester and Martinsburg has been famous 
 for its peach orchards and its apple orchards. 
 Apple Pie Ridge, just west of Winchester, 
 has been celebrated for generations. About 
 
 1890 Mr. John Wissler planted an extensive 
 commercial orchard between Mt. Jackson 
 and Ouicksburg, and today the surrounding- 
 hills for miles are covered with vigorous 
 trees of carefully selected varieties. Turkey 
 Knob Orchards are in this region. 
 
 Front Royal, Timberville, Harrisonburg, 
 Staunton, and Waynesboro are all sur- 
 rounded by rich acres of productive orch- 
 ards. Some of the favorite varieties among 
 Valley apples are the Stayman, Grimes 
 Golden, Delicious, Black Ben, Rome Beauty, 
 and Winesap. Shenandoah Valley apples 
 have won prizes in many states and they are 
 shipped to man_\ r lands. 
 
Turkey Knob Apple Orchards 
 
"The breezes of suspiring spring 
 
 From Massanutten's side shall blow, 
 Around this spot their incense fling, 
 And sigh in holy whispers low." 
 
 This picture shows the New Market Gap 
 in the Massanutten Mountain through which 
 Stonewall Jackson led his army eastward in 
 May, 1862, hiding so completely from Gen- 
 eral Banks at Strasburg that the latter did 
 not know where the boys in gray were till 
 the muskets began to rattle at Front Royal 
 a day or two later. 
 
 Now this road through the Gap has been 
 widened into one of the most attractive 
 stretches of the Lee Highway. This splen- 
 did trail comes across the mountains from 
 Luray and joins the Valley Pike at New 
 Market. Three miles above New Market 
 are the celebrated Endless Caverns; at an 
 
 equal distance below are the beautiful Shen- 
 andoah Caverns. 
 
 For many years at New Market lived 
 Joseph Salyards ( 1808-1885), scholar, teach- 
 er, and poet. He was born at or near Front 
 Royal, but his name is treasured in many 
 parts of the upper Shenandoah Valley, 
 where, often in mean structures and always 
 with meager equipment, he gave the young 
 men who sat at his feet such visions of truth 
 and beauty as lift the soul to exalted heights. 
 
 The photograph here reproduced was 
 taken just outside of New Market, with the 
 camera pointing due east. 
 
New Market Gap and Lee Highway 
 
"Hid far away from star and sun, 
 Weird realms of wonder wait, 
 While aeons all uncounted run, 
 Till Chance unbars the gate." 
 
 For more than a hundred years wonder- 
 ful caves in the hills just west of Luray have 
 been known to exist, but it was not until the 
 year 1878 that the now celebrated Luray 
 Caverns were discovered. Since then, from 
 time to time, additional realms of mystery 
 and beauty have been uncovered, and the 
 fame of these caverns has gone around the 
 world. During the year 1922 the number of 
 visitors was about fifty thousand. 
 
 It would be impossible in brief space to 
 enumerate all the remarkable and beautiful 
 formations in these caverns. Titania's Veil, 
 the Fish Market, the Organ and Chimes, and 
 the Frozen Fountain are notable. To many 
 persons the Saracen's Tent appears most 
 
 fascinating" and beautiful. The great Ameri- 
 can Eagle is a marvel in stone. Skeleton 
 Gorge and the Ball Room are two of the 
 more familiar of the large apartments. The 
 Cathedral Towers are striking and graceful 
 in harmonious symmetry. 
 
 The scenery around Luray, with the Blue 
 Ridge on the east and the Massanutten on 
 the west, is bold and beautiful. Rich vales 
 of farm land border the Hawksbill and other 
 streams that carry the spring water of the 
 hills into the Shenandoah River. The Lee 
 Highway passes through Luray and on 
 westward to the Valley Pike at New Market, 
 by way of the picturesque gap in the Massa- 
 nutten not far from the Caverns. 
 
Frozen Fountain, Luray Caverns 
 
"No one upon his scarlet coat 
 
 Might wear the golden shoe 
 Till he could prove that he had crossed 
 The Appalachian blue." 
 
 This picture, taken from the hill near the 
 entrance to Luray Caverns, looks eastward 
 across the town of Luray and the beautiful 
 valley of Hawksbill Creek, upon the massive 
 ranges of the Blue Ridge in the distance. A 
 few miles up the ranges to the right is Swift 
 Run Gap, where Spotswood and the Knights 
 of the Horseshoe came over into the Valley 
 in 1716. 
 
 The Page Valley, which is that part of 
 the Shenandoah Valley that lies between the 
 Blue Ridge on the east and the Massanutten 
 Mountain on the west, is justly famed for its 
 fertile lands, its beautiful scenery, and the 
 hospitality of its thrifty people. Tt is through 
 
 this part of the Valley that the Norfolk and 
 Western Railway, Roanoke to Hagerstown 
 line, passes. Luray is a Mecca for tourists; 
 the town of Shenandoah a few miles up the 
 line is a division point, busy with shops; and 
 it is just at the section shown in the picture 
 that the Lee Highway enters the Valley 
 from the regions east of the Blue Ridge. 
 
 Page County watermelons have been far 
 famed for generations. The summer visitor 
 who comes and goes without tasting that 
 luscious product of the river bottoms should 
 make another visit specially to remedy the 
 defect in his experiences.- 
 
Page Valley, From Luray Caverns Hill 
 
"Watched by the sentinel mountains, 
 Arched by the tranquil sky, 
 Steeped in the soul of beauty, 
 The hills of Virginia lie. " 
 
 '"Four thousand feet in the blue," a re- 
 treat of quiet and health, an eyrie of beauty 
 and wonder, this is Skyland, the "Eaton 
 Ranch of the East." Nine miles east of 
 Luray, on the summit of the famous Blue 
 Ridge, Skyland can boast of more scenic 
 marvels than almost any summer resort in 
 America or Europe. 
 
 Forty artistic bark-covered bungalows, a 
 spacious rustic dining hall with a seating ca- 
 pacity of 200, a large swimming pool, tennis 
 courts, foot paths along the cliffs, and bridle 
 trails across the mountains and into the val- 
 leys — these are a few of the attractions that 
 make Skyland so inviting and so delightful. 
 Mountain summits in the sky and splashing 
 waterfalls in the glens lift the vision and 
 challenge the fancy. 
 
 The temperature at Skyland in summer 
 usually ranges from sixty degrees to seven- 
 ty-four, never rising as high as eighty-five. 
 Owing to the high altitude, hay fever and 
 kindred maladies are practically unknown. 
 Near at hand are thousands of cords of fire- 
 wood, and in the buildings are sixty fire- 
 places. Scattered over the grounds are rus- 
 tic seats and benches for the convenience 
 and comfort of guests. Horseback riding is 
 both a pleasure and a necessity — no automo- 
 biles or other vehicles are seen on the moun- 
 tains. Electric lights at this elevation seem 
 almost rivals of the stars. 
 
 The picture on the opposite page gives an 
 idea of the splendid panorama from Stony 
 Man Mountain. This particular peak is only 
 a short distance from Skvland Park. 
 
Skyland, From the Sky; the Shenandoah Valley 3,000 Feet Below 
 
"A rainbow mist, a diamond spray, 
 A music as of tinkling bells; 
 A bugle blast, a rush of light — 
 'Tis dawn in Skyland !" 
 
 A fitting accompaniment to the life at 
 Skyland are the bugle notes that punctuate 
 the hours. Each morning the clear summons 
 of its voice arouses the guests to the delights 
 of another day. It calls them to the dining 
 hall for meals, gathers them together at the 
 close of day for the evening festivities, and 
 announces the departure of the daily mail. 
 
 But sweetest to most who sojourn at Sky- 
 land is the music of the mountains — the 
 singing of the birds, the whispering of the 
 winds, and the infinite melodies of the water- 
 falls. The cascades of White Oak Canyon 
 are fascinating in beauty and variety. For 
 
 five miles a frightened stream clashes over 
 the rocky inclines in its precipitous flight to 
 the Valley. Along the way may be counted 
 no less than eight beautiful falls that vary in 
 height from fifty feet to a hundred. 
 
 From the first of May until the latter part 
 of June Skyland is the nesting" place for 
 thousands of American song birds. During 
 the spring of 1916 a noted writer on birds 
 took a walk in the early morning from his 
 cottage to Stony Man Peak, distant about 
 one mile, and on this walk identified forty 
 varieties of birds — all within a period of less 
 than two hours. 
 
J3 
 
 
"Mid the green fields of Virginia, 
 
 In the vale of Shenandoah, 
 There's an ivy-covered homestead that I love ; 
 
 With its quaint old-fashioned chimney 
 
 And its simple homelike air, 
 While the skies of Shenandoah smile aliove." 
 
 This is one of the splendid farm scenes 
 that abound from one end of the Valley to 
 the other. 
 
 This particular homestead happens to be 
 historic as well as picturesque and prosper- 
 ous. In it has resided for many years a de- 
 scendant of Adam Miller, who was perhaps 
 the first white man to settle permanently in 
 this region. Nearby is the famous Bear 
 Lithia Spring; and almost opposite in the 
 Blue Ridge, the mountain range which forms 
 the skyline of the picture, is Swift Run Gap, 
 
 celebrated in connection with the Knights of 
 the Horseshoe. Not far away is the old Kite 
 homestead where Stonewall Jackson had his 
 headquarters while his armies were gather- 
 ing in the spring of 1862 for their memorable 
 games of hide and seek with the boys in blue. 
 At Rockingham Springs (Hopkins's 
 Springs), a few miles westward at the foot 
 of the Massanutten, Sidney Lanier spent the 
 summer of 1879 and wrote his Science of 
 English Verse. 
 
A Valley Farm Home, Near Elkton 
 
"He guards day and night our green valley ; 
 For Nature who made it so fair, 
 Grew alarmed for her beautiful treasure, 
 And placed him as sentinel there." 
 
 Rising' out of the plain with the abrupt- 
 ness and almost the very outlines of Gibral- 
 tar, the southwest end of Massanutten 
 Mountain cuts the skyline of East Rocking- 
 ham with boldnes and majesty. It is a con- 
 spicuous and beautiful landmark in a circle 
 of many miles, and the view from its craggy 
 summit reminds one of that from Lookout 
 Mountain at Chattanooga. 
 
 "Peaked Mountain," as it is called locally, 
 was doubtless a famous altar of Indian fires 
 in prehistoric days. During the Civil War 
 it served as a signal station to Blue and 
 Gray. Almost opposite, in the Blue Ridge, 
 
 is Swift Run Gap where Spotswood and the 
 Knights of the Horseshoe came over in 
 1716. Nearby is the summer resort where 
 Sidney Lanier wrote his Science of English 
 Verse in 1879; and in the plains below are 
 the battlefields of Harrisonburg, Cross Keys, 
 and Port Republic. 
 
 Near Swift Run Gap, in the Blue Ridge, 
 is the beautiful Cedar Cliff waterfall. In the 
 spring of the year, when the snows of the 
 mountain-tops flush the streams, the fall can 
 often be seen from many points in the Val- 
 ley, as it describes a graceful arc in the sun- 
 light. 
 
^y \ 
 
 "Peaked Mountain," From East Rockingham 
 
"A spot beside the mountain high, 
 With leagues of wonder at its feet, 
 And every day a joy." 
 
 Between Smith Creek and the Massanut- 
 ten Mountain, on one of the more accessible 
 foothills of that marvelous range, stands the 
 attractive and hospitable Lodge at the en- 
 trance to Endless Caverns. The macadam 
 road to the Caverns turns off the Valley Pike 
 three miles above New Market, at the "Lit- 
 tle Log Cabin by the Lane." At night the 
 avenue of electric lights serves to lead the 
 wayfarer safely in. 
 
 Endless Caverns were discovered in 1879 
 and have ever since been popular, but it is 
 only in recent years that they have been en- 
 hanced with expensive equipment and have 
 
 become widely known. Now, it is said, you 
 might ask any well informed person in 
 Europe about them with a reasonable expec- 
 tation of receiving a matter-of-fact answer. 
 The view of the Shenandoah Valley from 
 Endless Caverns Lodge is pleasing and re- 
 freshing. Down in the long gorges of the 
 Caverns the wonders are multiplied and 
 startling. The Oriental Palace, Solomon's 
 Temple, the Lake Grotto, the Grand Canyon, 
 the Ball Room, the Snow Drift, and the 
 ( rypsy Tent are all beautiful in pictures, but 
 in their native reality of fantastic colored 
 stone they are marvelous. 
 

 
 • ■ ' -■*■■, hff*^fc t^HBSBQBSS* Vl_'Mtf5r-^ 
 
 Lodge and Tea Room, Endless Caverns 
 
"Great Nature had a 
 A midnight path led 
 Bright Fancy's taper 
 
 The caverns of the Shenandoah Valley, 
 like the stars, are similar and yet diverse- 
 each has a glory all its own, though akin in 
 nature and origin. All who have in the 
 hush of wonder gazed upon the witchery of 
 Diamond Lake or watched the marvel of 
 "sunrise" in Fairyland in the Endless Cav- 
 erns near New Market grope futilely for ad- 
 jectives, but always wind up in the search 
 with "matchless" or "indescribable." 
 
 magic dream one day ; 
 straight to Fairyland — 
 lit the secret way." 
 
 Long before the Gateway to Fairyland 
 and the border of Diamond Lake are reached 
 the visitor to the Endless Caverns feels that 
 he has received his money's worth; but the 
 guide manages with cleverness and renders 
 him speechless with the grand climax. As 
 he goes out he seems walking in a trance and 
 is prone to ask himself, "Is this the world in 
 which we have been living and working or 
 is it only 'the land where we were dream- 
 
 111 g : 
 
Gateway to Fairyland, Endless Caverns 
 
"I heard the Shenandoah roll along the vale below, 
 I saw the Alleghanies rise toward the realms of snow." 
 
 1 1 a person who is familiar with the Shen- 
 andoah Valley from end to end were asked, 
 "What is the most beautiful place in the 
 Valley?" he would probably hesitate before 
 committing himself to any definite answer. 
 And then he would almost certainly hedge 
 his reply about with careful qualifications : 
 "In respect to mountains, this," "In respect 
 to farm lands, that," "In respect to waters, 
 the other," etc. 
 
 And the same person might very con- 
 sistently give different answers at different 
 times, in accordance, perhaps, with his en- 
 vironment at the moment. If he were in 
 Brock's Gap, for example, and were fond of 
 a rare combination of rugged mountain, 
 crystal water, and witching color he might 
 say without hesitation, "Brock's Gap is the 
 most beautiful place in the Valley." If the 
 season were autumn and the hour were sun- 
 set it would be hard for him to do otherwise. 
 
 "When sinks the sun behind the mountain walls, 
 And, in the starry quiet, the new moon 
 Hallows the evening hour, mv soul is free." 
 
 For generations the Gap has been a fav- 
 orite haunt for those whose feet are turned 
 to pleasures and whose eyes are caught by 
 beauty. Red men and buffaloes must have 
 threaded a devious course back and forth 
 at this opening in the Alleghany ranges for 
 centuries before the white man came. Ever 
 since he came it has been a thoroughfare. 
 
 Doubtless the most famous traveler to 
 pass this way, and to record his journey and 
 his stopping places, was General George 
 Washington. Let us hope that the Septem- 
 ber day in 1784, when he passed, was bright 
 with sunshine and rich with early autumn 
 tints. 
 
The Shenandoah in Brock's Gap 
 
"Old knights from graves of long ago 
 Now gathered near the spring, 
 And drank as spirits only may 
 
 A health to George the king." 
 
 Whether the celebrated Knights of the 
 Horseshoe ever got as far into the Valley as 
 the big spring on the court square of Har- 
 risonburg, or whether their ghosts ever kept 
 tryst there on New Year's night or not, may 
 be a question; but the spring is still there, 
 and certain well known descendants of the 
 Knights of the Horseshoe dwell nearby. 
 
 For generations this great spring was the 
 main source of water supply for the town. 
 Before the white men settled around it the 
 Indians and the buffaloes knew it well. Tt 
 was at the crossing of two old trails — the 
 one up and down the Valley, since widened 
 
 into the Valley Turnpike, the other crossing 
 the Valley from east to west. 
 
 During the Civil War thousands of sol- 
 diers. Blue and Gray, quenched their thirst 
 at this generous place of refreshment. But 
 some lime after 1896, when the new court 
 house was erected, the court square was 
 paved and the old spring had to go the way 
 of civilization. It was arched over and 
 paved over. Now the spot is marked in the 
 street by a large disk of iron, and countless 
 wheels rumble above it ; but the water pushes 
 its way out under ground and goes its way 
 to the Shenandoah and so on to the ocean, in 
 spite of civilization. 
 
Historic Spring and County Court House, Harrisonburg 
 
"The groves were God's first temples ; 
 To Youth and Wisdom the oaks are oracles." 
 
 For more than a century Massanetta 
 Springs (formerly known as Taylor 
 Springs) has been a famous resort for pleas- 
 ure, health, and social and religious gather- 
 ings. In recent years the Summer Bible 
 Conference Encampment, under the auspices 
 of the Presbyterian Synod of Virginia, has 
 developed unprecedented interest and pa- 
 tronage. During one day in 1923 it was esti- 
 mated that seven thousand people were on 
 the grounds. 
 
 Massanetta Springs is located four miles 
 east of Harrisonburg, under the shadow of 
 the majestic Massanutten Mountain, from 
 which both name and fame are in part de- 
 rived. The waters are sparkling and in- 
 vigorating; the hotel accommodations are 
 generous and inviting; and the conference 
 pavilion in the large grove of huge native 
 oaks is a place of quiet and rural charm. 
 Tents on the green of the meadow and 
 among the oaks on the hill enlarge the facili- 
 ties for lodging and outdoor life. 
 
 Five conferences are annually held : The 
 Young People's Conference, Training School 
 for Church and Sunday School Workers, 
 School of Missions for Women, the Men's 
 Conference, and the General Bible Confer- 
 ence. 
 
 Only the most outstanding religious lead- 
 ers in America and England have been 
 sought as principal speakers. In addition to 
 the great leaders in the Southern Presby- 
 terian Church, Dr. Campbell Morgan, Dr. 
 A. C. Dixon, Dr. Stuart Ffolden of London, 
 Dr. William Evans of Chicago, and others 
 have been on the Massanetta platform. 
 Chrystal Brown and Homer Hammontree 
 have been among the leaders of song. 
 
 Young persons who go to Massanetta 
 return home with a great vision and uplift 
 of soul, and older men and women who 
 spend a month there go away and tell of a 
 visit to the Fountain of Youth. 
 

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 Massanetta Springs, Near Harrisonburg 
 
"Adown sweet Linville's vale today 
 Careless I wandered on my way, 
 Forgetful of the past." 
 
 In or before the year 1768 John Lincoln 
 came from Pennsylvania into the Shenan- 
 doah Valley of Virginia and purchased a 
 large tract of land on Linville Creek. There 
 he and his posterity established themselves 
 in thrift and prosperity. 
 
 In or about the year 1800 his son. Captain 
 Jacob Lincoln, a soldier of the Revolution, 
 erected at the old homestead the spacious 
 brick house shown in the picture opposite. 
 A number of years earlier, Captain Abraham 
 Lincoln, oldest son of "Virginia John," had 
 gone from this place to Kentucky. He was 
 the grandfather of Abraham, the President. 
 
 John, Abraham, and Jacob have been fav- 
 orite names with the Lincolns for many 
 
 generations. In Rockingham County today, 
 where the Lincolns are still numerous, the 
 names are familiar. Abraham, a son of Cap- 
 tain Jacob, added an extensive "L" to the 
 ancestral dwelling, but it does not at all ap- 
 pear in the photograph. 
 
 Near the Lincolns on Linville Creek 
 lived the Bryans. It was one of the Bryan 
 girls that young Daniel Boone married 
 shortly after his sojourn in this part of the 
 Shenandoah Valley- The old road across the 
 Valley, from Brock's Gap to Port Republic, 
 by which General Washington passed in 
 1784, crosses Linville Creek only a short 
 distance from the old Lincoln homestead. 
 
Old Lincoln Homestead, Near Harrisonburg 
 
'Amid the crags, 'neath spruce and oak, 
 The elves ran riot in their glee — 
 And now behold a miracle!" 
 
 Twelve miles west of Harrisonburg', in 
 the first ranges of the Alleghanies, many 
 springs of medicinal waters break out. The 
 most celebrated and the most visited are the 
 springs of Rawley. Hotels and cottages dot 
 the rugged hillsides and cluster in the ro- 
 mantic vale of Gum Run. 
 
 Far up along one of the enchanting 
 mountain-side paths, silhouetted against the 
 blue sky, is a remarkable profile in the rock. 
 Some say that it is the old Catawba chief 
 who was mortally wounded in the fight with 
 the Delawares by War Branch and who 
 came up the Gum Run canyon to die ; but 
 others — and these are doubtless better in- 
 formed — insist that it is the face of George 
 Washington, the Father of his Country. 
 
 Another question is, "Did Washington 
 see his picture here in the face of the cliff at 
 Rawley when he passed through the region 
 in September, 1784?" Nobody has ventured 
 to answer this question with any degree of 
 certainty, but probably he did not. Never- 
 theless thousands of his admiring country- 
 men and countrywomen have looked upon it 
 since that month and year. 
 
 It is one of the marvels in stone that vis- 
 itors to Rawley Springs always wish to see. 
 And the view of the Valley eastward from 
 this point is most pleasing". 
 
 One of the great advantages of Rawley is 
 that it is really in the mountains, and yet 
 quite easy of access from the Valley. It lies 
 at a point of beauty where mountains and 
 Vallev meet. 
 
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"Oh, sweet and fair those flowers rare 
 
 On verdant banks, where waters flow, 
 But sweeter far those blossoms are 
 
 That blush a greeting 'mid the snow." 
 
 Spring, summer, autumn, these are the 
 seasons of green promise and golden plenty 
 in Shendo Land, but winter is not without 
 its charms. Who has seen a sunrise on the 
 distant Alleghanies, when their summits are 
 crowned with snow? or a gray day of silence 
 when the evergreens are mantled thick with 
 the soft blankets of the sky? One who has 
 seen these things will not deny that winter 
 too has its fascination and its charm. 
 
 The old days of sleigh-riding with "jingle 
 bells" have apparently passed away with 
 other things of pioneer romance, but skating 
 and coasting are still in vogue. The winter 
 ice harvests have also G'one into the storied 
 
 past, but young folks still do snowball and 
 the boys have not lost the primitive art of 
 tracking rabbits. 
 
 This particular picture was made on the 
 beautiful campus of the State Teachers Col- 
 lege at Harrisonburg, familiarly known as 
 "Blue-Stone Hill." Many of the young wo- 
 men who attend schools in the Valley come 
 from Tidewater, Virginia, and other temper- 
 ate or semi-tropical sections, and to them a 
 snowstorm is a delight. The snows, no less 
 than the mountains and the caverns and the 
 waterfalls, are a joy to many who visit the 
 Valley for health, wealth, pleasure, or learn- 
 
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 Snow on the Cedars 
 
"Co-operation and courtesy are the open doors to opportunity ; they combine the charm 
 of the past, the energy of the present, and the promise of the future." 
 
 The people of the Shenandoah Valley are 
 a composite of fine race elements: The 
 sturdy Scotch-Irish, the thrifty Germans, 
 the liberty-loving" Swiss, the liberty-building- 
 English, the gallant French, and the frugal, 
 persistent Dutch. They embody many re- 
 ligious creeds, and their prosperity is pro- 
 verbial. Optimism and success are taken as 
 matters of course. 
 
 The good will and co-operative spirit of 
 the dozen or more great counties of the 
 Shenandoah Valley, in Virginia and West 
 Virginia, are in nothing better shown than 
 in the provisions they have made to give in- 
 formation and assistance to all who come 
 among them, either for pleasure or for busi- 
 ness. A great organization has been formed 
 and it has been incorporated under the laws 
 of the State to be of material aid in social, 
 
 educational, agricultural, and industrial en- 
 terprise. 
 
 The Shenandoah Valley, Inc., has head- 
 quarters offices in the historic old Neff home 
 in Harrisonburg. Guests are always wel- 
 come, and information about the Valley and 
 its resources is cheerfully given. 
 
 The house shown in the picture opposite 
 was for many years the home of Dr. John 
 H. Neff, a distinguished and beloved physi- 
 cian of Harrisonburg. He was a cousin to 
 Colonel John Francis Neff, the youngest 
 regimental commander of the famous Stone- 
 wall Brigade. His brother, Captain Jacob 
 G. Neff of Mt. Jackson, another gallant Con- 
 federate, was for years president of the Val- 
 ley Turnpike Company. The ancestral 
 Neffs came, it is said, from Switzerland. 
 
The Neff House, Harrisonburg 
 
"Tell me of a land where love 
 Fixed in woman's heart doth prove 
 Best of all the gifts to man 'neath heaven's dome: 
 
 This picture was caught one summer's 
 day on the sloping' campus of the State 
 Teachers College at Harrisonburg, near the 
 open-air amphitheatre where Ben Greet, 
 Charles Coburn, Clifford Devereux, and 
 other woodland players have often come 
 with their scenes from Arden Forest and old 
 London Town. 
 
 The elaborate Shakespeare pageant of 
 1916, occupying two days and engaging hun- 
 dreds of actors, was staged on these same 
 green hillsides. Every year the daughters 
 of Virginia — are they not "daughters of the 
 stars?" — fill the changing scenes with ani- 
 
 mated color and the air with lingering 
 music. The outdoor plays of "Blue-Stone 
 Hill" have become a feature in the annual 
 calendar. 
 
 At many places in the Valley, in connec- 
 tion with the work of the schools, historical 
 and patriotic pageants are occasionally pro- 
 duced. John Lewis, Jost Hite, Alexander 
 Spotswood, Peter Muhlenberg, Joseph Funk, 
 John Sevier, Turner Ashby, and many others 
 who have filled the past with renown are 
 called back repeatedly to give pleasure and 
 inspiration to the present. 
 
"Daughters of the Stars" 
 In The Pageant "Home and Native Land" 
 
"Bridgewater fair, my heart's sweet care, 
 I love thy laughing waters." 
 
 It was not from Bridgewater in Old Eng- 
 land or in Xew England that this beautiful 
 rural town took its name, but from a real 
 "bridged-water" of its own. The early name 
 of the settlement was "Dinkletown." There 
 one autumn afternoon in pioneer days came 
 ''Shawnee Kate" and told young Mrs. Eliza- 
 beth Irvine of an attack that the Indians 
 were going to make upon Deerfield, Mrs. 
 Irvine's old home. And there in the Long- 
 Glade meadows the young woman caught 
 her horse, saddled him, and as night fell set 
 out to carry the message of warning. Thirty 
 miles she rode through the darkness alone. 
 
 through Buffalo Gap, past Elliott's Knob, 
 across the Calfpasture River, and at daylight 
 drew rein at her father's door in Deerfield — 
 ahead of the Indians. 
 
 For many years the most striking land- 
 mark in Bridgewater was the long wooden 
 bridge that spanned North River (a branch 
 of the Shenandoah) at a single giant's stride 
 of 240 feet. Recently it has been displaced 
 by an iron structure, safer no doubt for 
 heavy traffic, but less picturesque. 
 
 Bridgewater College was founded in 
 1880. The campus borders on the river a 
 short distance below the bridge. 
 
Old Wooden Bridge, at Bridgewater 
 
"Flowing water, crystal water, 
 
 Sheltered from the flaming bars, 
 Sown with diamonds in the moonlight- 
 'Tis the 'Daughter of the Stars.' " 
 
 Miracles underground, favor in the sky, 
 beauty on the hillsides, and fun in the water, 
 these are some of the attractions that make 
 the Grottoes of the Shenandoah one of the 
 most popular resorts in the Shenandoah Val- 
 ley. 
 
 In the days of Thomas Jefferson people 
 came to the Grottoes in large numbers to 
 visit Madison's Cave. As time went on and 
 the marvels of Weyer's Cave eclipsed those 
 of the older grotto the numbers of visitors 
 increased. For some time past the owners 
 have been laying plans to make a third won- 
 der, the Cave of the Fountains, more easily 
 accessible to those who seek pleasure or 
 scientific lore; and on the hot days of sum- 
 mer the swimming beach, hard by the Grot- 
 
 toes, is a most delightful place of recreation 
 and refreshment. 
 
 The Grottoes of the Shenandoah are only 
 a mile from the regular station of Grottoes 
 on the N. & W. Railway, and special trains 
 of excursionists stop on the Caverns 
 grounds. Good auto roads lead in from 
 every point of the compass. Burketown and 
 Fort Defiance are good places on the Valley 
 Pike to turn off eastward to Grottoes. 
 
 The park at the Grottoes of the Shenan- 
 doah is spacious and beautiful. Nature has 
 laid it out with skill and adorned it with va- 
 riety and grace. Camping parties find it a 
 most inviting place for a month or two of 
 pleasure. 
 
Swimming Beach, Grottoes of the Shenandoah 
 
"When Beauty carved her palaces 
 Upon that ancient day, 
 Ikr wizard laid his spell on all 
 The fairies at their play." 
 
 From time immemorial the Grottoes of 
 the Shenandoah have been a place of wonder 
 and admiration. No less than three caves in 
 the region thereabouts are known- — how 
 many more may still be discovered nobody 
 can guess. The favorite, known for a cen- 
 tury as Weyer's Cave, is entered from an 
 arbored terrace that overlooks the Shenan- 
 doah River (South Branch) and faces the 
 Blue Ridge Mountains. From a prospect of 
 beautiful landscape the visitor turns to a 
 petrified fairyland. 
 
 By easy declines, on a hard, dry path, he 
 enters the winding avenues fantastically 
 adorned with a profusion and variety of 
 beauty that defy both imagination and mem- 
 ory. Form and color are combined with the 
 exquisite touch of a power that is beyond all 
 
 human art. The scientific placing of electric 
 lights enhances the riot of wonders. 
 
 The Grand Canyon, the Senate Cham- 
 ber, Pluto's Chasm, and the Persian Palace 
 are only a few of the spacious apartments in 
 these labyrinths of stone. The Bridal Veil, 
 the mammoth Oyster Shell, and the Shields 
 of Achilles are some of the more notable 
 among the curious formations. 
 
 Of all the splendid halls in the Grottoes 
 of the Shenandoah, the Cathedral is easily 
 first. In both size and beauty it is perhaps 
 unrivaled in all the caverns of the region. 
 The thousands who come and go under its 
 exalted arches are awed by a sense of the 
 marvelous and almost listen for a swell of 
 music or the chanting of a prayer. 
 
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'Was it in an hour of whimsical fancy, 
 Or in a black moment of fury volcanic, 
 That Nature upreared here a marvel? 
 Or yet in slow silence, through aeons of years?" 
 
 Near the village of Mt. Solon, in Augusta 
 County, overlooking a beautiful dell along- 
 side a branch of the Shenandoah, are the 
 Natural Chimneys, often termed the Cyclo- 
 pean Towers. Gaunt, gray, and storm-cleft, 
 these giant crags of limestone rise above the 
 plain to a height of almost a hundred feet. 
 
 The fiction of chimneys is heightened by 
 the curious fact that at the bases of two of 
 these towering piles are openings resembling 
 fireplaces. These openings extend far back 
 under the crags and are favorite shelters for 
 cattle and other animals. 
 
 At Mt. Solon is a beautiful blue lake, in 
 one of the crater-like depressions for which 
 the region is notable. It is the head of 
 Mossy Creek, and furnishes a volume of 
 water from the springs in its azure depths 
 sufficient to run a large mill. 
 
 The Natural Chimneys and Mt. Solon 
 may easily be reached via the Chesapeake- 
 Western Railway; and auto roads lead in 
 from Harrisonburg, Dayton, Bridgewater, 
 Mt. Crawford, Burketown, and Staunton. 
 
Mi. 
 
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"Blow, bugle, blow; set the wild echoes flying; 
 Blow, let us hear the purple glens replying." 
 
 Hard by the Valley Pike, at Fort De- 
 fiance in Augusta County, is Augusta Mili- 
 tary Academy, one of the well-known high 
 class schools of the Shenandoah Valley. 
 The buildings and campus are on the west 
 side of the Pike and may easily be recognized 
 from the picture on the opposite page by 
 even a stranger who passes up or down the 
 " I .ong Gray Trail." To be sure, the boys are 
 not always standing on parade, but a bugle 
 note might break upon the air at any 
 moment. 
 
 Three hundred yards northeast of the 
 Academy, in its grove of ancient oaks, stands 
 the historic Augusta Stone Church, dating 
 from the days of early settlement. Sturdy 
 Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, it is said, carried 
 their guns to church for many years, and 
 
 kept them handy while they knelt to pray. 
 Their heroic women, we are told, had carried 
 the sand for the building of the church in 
 bags on horseback from the river several 
 miles away. 
 
 It was in a small brick structure in the 
 church grove that Mr. Charles Summerville 
 Roller started the Academy years ago. His 
 sons continue his work so well begun. 
 
 Three hundred yards southwest of the 
 Academy is the famous Willow Spout. 
 Every veteran of the Civil War who passed 
 this way probably drank or wished to drink 
 of the clear, cold stream that gushes from 
 the willow tree at the roadside. The willow 
 spout is partly iron now, and nobody per- 
 haps knows its number, but its name is wide 
 ly known and fondly cherished. 
 
Augusta Military Academy. Fort Defiance 
 
'Out of the Valley they send us men, 
 Fit for the cry of the living need; 
 
 Strong with the purpose to bring again 
 A clearer vision and nobler deed." 
 
 In the city of Staunton, at the corner of 
 Coalter Street and Frederick, stands the 
 brick house in which on December 28, 1856, 
 was born Woodrow Wilson. His father, 
 Rev. Joseph R. Wilson, was a Presbyterian 
 pastor, and the house is still the Manse of 
 the First Presbyterian Church. A tablet in- 
 forms the passer-by of its unique distinction. 
 
 On the occasion of Wilson's "home-com- 
 ing," on his birthday following his election 
 as President in 1912, he slept in this house, 
 in the same room in which he had been born 
 fifty-six years before. 
 
 Not far away is Mary Baldwin Semi- 
 nary, the well known women's college, 
 where many cherished associations of the 
 Wilsons are lovingly preserved. 
 
 Wilson came of the sturdy Scotch-Irish 
 stock with which Augusta County and ad- 
 jacent regions were peopled in the days when 
 it took men (and women too) to lay the 
 foundations of a world power in the wilder- 
 ness. In 1732 old John Lewis and his sons 
 led the clans into the shadows of Betsy Bell 
 and Mary Gray, and there they began to 
 build, slowly, painfully, but surely, and bet- 
 ter than they knew. 
 
 Staunton is at the gateways to the West. 
 Here roads and railroads cross, and whether 
 one wishes to go south to Lexington and 
 Roanoke, north to Harrisonburg and Win- 
 chester, east to Charlotttesville and Rich- 
 mond, or west to Monterey, Warm Springs, 
 Hot Springs, or Clifton Forge, Staunton 
 holds the key and points the way. 
 
Birthplace of Woodrow Wilson, Staunton 
 
"Circled with Virginia beauty, 
 
 Crowned with matchless names, 
 Sacred here are truth and duty, 
 Here Youth's ardor flames." 
 
 Dating" in its beginnings from the year 
 1749, the famous university at Lexington, 
 Virginia, has had a notable history. Its 
 first charter was received in 1782, and it was 
 honored with the name of Washington be- 
 cause he endowed it with a considerable sum 
 of money. In 1802 the Cincinnati Society, 
 on dissolving their organization, appropri- 
 ated the residue of their funds to the institu- 
 tion. In 1865 General Robert E. Lee was 
 made president. The five years under his 
 direction and uplifting influence were so vital 
 and fruitful that it was quite fitting to join 
 his name with that of Washingon in a new 
 name for the school. Washington and Lee 
 University deserves its name and its fame. 
 
 The name Lee has a double significance 
 here, for General Custis Lee, son of "Marse 
 
 Robert," was president of the institution for 
 many years following the death of his father. 
 His successor was William Lyne Wilson, so 
 well known in American history. 
 
 Washington and Lee University and the 
 Virginia Military Institute are neighboring 
 institutions, crowning the same fortress-like 
 hill above the encircling river; and it is a 
 matter of interesting coincidence that dur- 
 ing the later years that General Lee was 
 president of Washington College, Matthew 
 Fontaine Maury, the Pathfinder of the Seas, 
 was a teacher in V. M. I. 
 
 Under Dr. Henry Louis Smith, the dis- 
 tinguished president of recent years, Wash- 
 ington and Lee has grown steadily in its 
 ideals and in influence. 
 
Washington and Lee University; Newcomb Hall and Library 
 
"Let us pass over the river and rest, 
 Under the shade of the trees." 
 
 From 1851 to 1861 Stonewall Jackson was 
 professor of physics and artillery instruction 
 in the Virginia Military Institute at Lexing- 
 ton, the "West Point of the South." His 
 tomb is in the cemetery at Lexington, not 
 far from the school that he helped to make 
 famous. Stonewall Jackson Memorial Hall 
 is one of the buildings that adorn the campus 
 of the Institute; and in the town of Lexing- 
 ton may be seen the house in which Jacksoa 
 and his family lived. It has been incorpor- 
 ated in a hospital which also commemorates 
 him. 
 
 The Virginia Military Institute was es- 
 tablished by the General Assembly of the 
 State in 1839. In 1860 the cadets marched 
 to Richmond and were employed in drilling 
 
 the recruits at Camp Lee. Nearly all of the 
 graduates prior to 1860 were officers in the 
 Confederate States army. 
 
 In May, 1864, the cadet battalion 
 marched down the Valley to New Market 
 and there, on the 15th of the month, took 
 part in the celebrated battle of New Market. 
 Later the same year the buildings of the In- 
 stitute were burned by the order of the Fed- 
 eral general, David Hunter. After the war 
 the buildings were restored and the courses 
 of instruction were enlarged and extended. 
 
 Many other famous men, besides Jack- 
 son, have been associated with V. M. I. as 
 students or teachers or both. Among them 
 may be mentioned Claude Crozet, Sir Moses 
 Ezekiel, and Matthew Fontaine Maurv. 
 
Stonewall Jackson Memorial Hall, V. M. I., Lexington 
 
"As there I stand, I feel His presence pass 
 And brush my cheek with the eloquence of love 
 That does not need to speak." 
 
 To Thomas Jefferson a possession, to 
 George Washington a challenge, to James 
 Piper an inspiration, to all the world a won- 
 der, the Natural Bridge is one of Nature's 
 great masterpieces, a miracle in stone. 
 
 Spanning a deep canon through which a 
 brook winds its tortuous way, the crown of 
 the massive arch leaps the chasm 200 feet 
 above the stream. The span of the arch is 
 fifty to sixty feet, and the thickness of the 
 crown is about forty feet. By means of this 
 bridge a highway crosses the canon, and so 
 well is the wonder concealed by rocks and 
 
 trees that a hundred strangers might pass 
 over in a summer's day without ever dream- 
 ing of the marvel beneath their feet. 
 
 It supplies a fitting name for the sur- 
 rounding county — Rockbridge — and is only 
 fourteen miles south of historic Lexington, 
 the county-seat. 
 
 From Rockbridge County many sons 
 have gone out to fame, among them Sam 
 Houston, "Big-Foot" Wallace, and Cyrus 
 Hall McCormick. 
 
 Spacious hotels at Natural Bridge pro- 
 vide entertainment for guests and visitors. 
 
X 
 
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"In the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, 
 On the Trail of the Lonesome Pine." 
 
 This is not the really truly Trail of the 
 Lonesome Pine, which our clear old friend 
 John Fox has made so familiar — that trail is 
 not in the Blue Ridge Mountains at all, did 
 you know it, kind reader? — but this is a real 
 trail in the real Blue Ridge, on the splendid 
 highway that leads across the mountains 
 and into the Valley at Basic and Waynes- 
 boro, and so on through Fishersville to 
 Staunton. 
 
 From Staunton it is a short and pleasant 
 drive on a summer's afternoon to the Blue 
 Ridge, and the views from the sides and the 
 summit of the grand old mountain are de- 
 lightful and inspiring. The scenery all along 
 the way is beautiful and full of a charming 
 variety — a soothing quiet and harmony — so 
 
 characteristic of Shenandoah Valley land- 
 scapes. 
 
 The combination of level field, rounded 
 hill, wooded slope, and cloud-flecked sky, a 
 magic patchwork of graceful form and blend- 
 ing color, is restful to tingling nerves and 
 burdened spirits. An hour in Shendo Land, 
 "knee-deep in June," or in the golden days of 
 autumn, no less than in the budding", stirring 
 springtime, is an unfailing tonic to the soul. 
 
 Roads and railroads in this region are 
 abundant and excellent. Camping sites are 
 available and easily accessible. Wayside 
 inns are opening their doors. In the larger 
 towns and cities the best hotel accommoda- 
 tions are provided. Nature has been lavish 
 — art and industry inherit opportunity. 
 
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"There's a long, long trail a-winding, 
 Into the land of mv dreams." 
 
 The country west of Staunton is a land 
 of dreams — of many dreams already fulfilled 
 and many others coming" true. The Church- 
 ville Road is a trail into the "Golden West. -- 
 There wait the Allegiianies with their mys- 
 tery and their beauty, their crags and their 
 bowers, their wonder and their wealth. 
 Power is chained in their valleys and in- 
 dustry echoes among their hills. The ways 
 of travel that thread the passes and scale the 
 summits are ways of pleasantness and peace. 
 
 From Staunton westward several good 
 hisrhways offer choice. One may follow the 
 historic old Staunton and Parkersburg Turn- 
 pike, laid out by Claude Crozet, through Buf- 
 falo Gap and so on either to McDowell and 
 Monterey, or by another road on the left to 
 Goshen and Hot Springs; or he may take the 
 excellent Churchville Road and g;o more di- 
 
 rectly to West Augusta, McDowell, and the 
 points beyond. 
 
 At the foot of the mountains, on the 
 Churchville Road and beyond that thriving 
 village, is the famous old Buckhorn Tavern, 
 celebrated ever since the days when Stone- 
 wall Jackson and his "foot cavalry" passed 
 that way on their return from the battle at 
 McDowell, in the spring of 1862. 
 
 Near the Buckhorn Tavern the old Har- 
 risonburg and Warm Springs Turnpike 
 crosses from east to west. Stribling Springs 
 and other favorite summer resorts are in the 
 neighborhood. Mount Elliott and the lesser 
 peaks adorn the skyline and afford land- 
 marks for the traveler and the sportsman. 
 A summer storm in these mountains is both 
 terrible and beautiful — a thrilling rhapsody 
 in Nature's great symphony. 
 
West of Staunton, on the Churchvili.e Road 
 
A SENEDO LEGEND 
 
 Many years ago, so runs the tale, there 
 dwelt in one of the fastnesses of the Massa- 
 nutten Mountains (which the earliest white 
 explorers found already named the Moun- 
 tains of Cenuntua, or Shenandoah) an un- 
 couth but remarkably intelligent hermit. He 
 claimed to be of Indian blood; and the gen- 
 tleman who has preserved the story is of the 
 opinion that this aged denizen of the moun- 
 tains was a descendant of the ancient Senedo 
 tribe, whose home used to be in Meem's 
 Bottoms, in Shenandoah County, and who 
 were almost exterminated by the Southern 
 Indians about the time of Bacon's Rebellion. 
 
 In his talkative moods the old hermit 
 would now and then give to his auditors the 
 following legend : 
 
 "There was a tradition, handed down 
 from generation to generation among my 
 people, that, after the Great Spirit had made 
 the world, the morning stars came together 
 to sing for joy. They assembled around the 
 shores of a quiet silver lake, bordered with 
 blue mountains; for, as they looked over the 
 wonderful new world, this was the most 
 beautiful place they could see. So, hovering 
 above the quiet waters and lighting" the 
 
 mountain tops with their robes of fire, the 
 stars formed a great circle in the heavens 
 and sang their songs of joy. 
 
 "This took place once every thousand 
 years. Once every thousand years the stars 
 came back to the silver lake, formed a great 
 circle around its shores, and lighting up the 
 clear waters and the tops of the blue moun- 
 tains with heavenly fire, they sang their 
 songs of joy. And the angels in heaven, 
 hearing the sweet music and seeing the light, 
 would come down to listen; and now and 
 then, as the singing grew loud and joyous, 
 they would join in the chorus ; and at other 
 times, when the music was soft and sweet 
 and heart-touching, they would shed tears in 
 sympathy and in silence. And thus the an- 
 gels also came to love the silver lake and the 
 beautiful blue mountains that walled the 
 waters in. And whenever the stars would 
 leave the silver lake to go back to heaven 
 for another thousand years, each star would 
 take the brightest jewel from his crown and 
 cast it into the silver lake ; and there it would 
 sparkle and shine till the stars and the an- 
 gels came back again. 
 
"One time when the stars were singing 
 and the angels were joining in the loud 
 chorus, there came a mighty crashing sound, 
 as of mountains falling, or of thunders in the 
 sky ; and as the stars and the angels stopped 
 singing" to look and to listen they saw a great 
 rock in the mountain wall split in twain and 
 fall asunder, and through the dee]) opening 
 the waters of the lake began to pour out and 
 to rush towards the sea. In sorrow and dis- 
 may the angels and the stars fled away, and 
 for a thousand years, whenever they thought 
 of the beautiful lake whose waters had 
 rushed down to the sea, they spoke in whis- 
 pers. 
 
 "When the thousand years were ended 
 and the time came again for the stars to sing- 
 together, they looked here and there over the 
 earth for another place that might be beauti- 
 ful enough for their meeting place, and they 
 finally agreed upon a lovely valley, through 
 which a long winding river ran, and which 
 was bordered on both sides with blue moun- 
 tains. One reason they liked this place was 
 because it somehow reminded them of the 
 place where they had met from time to time 
 for singing when the world was new. 
 
 "And then, when the singing was done 
 and. the stars and the angels were preparing 
 to go back to heaven, they made a discovery; 
 they found that the beautiful valley was the 
 bed of the beautiful lake, and that the blue 
 mountains around it were the same ones 
 upon which they had cast their robes of light 
 while singing in ages past. And there, in 
 the mountain wall, at the lower end of the 
 \ alley, was the huge cleft in the rocks where 
 the waters of the lake had rushed out to 
 the sea. 
 
 "The stars were so joyous at the discov- 
 ery that each one of them took the brightest 
 jewel from his crown and cast it into the long- 
 winding river, where all of those jewels still 
 lie and sparkle; and ever since that day the 
 river (with the Valley too) has been called 
 'The Daughter of the Stars.' 
 
 "And at every spot on the hillsides where 
 a chief angel stood a spring of water gushed 
 out to feed the beautiful river; and at every 
 place where an angel's tear fell when the 
 singing was soft and sweet and heart-touch- 
 ing, there sprang up lovely flowers which are 
 still growing and filling- the Walley with their 
 fragrance."