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46-682: The mountain bisects the Shenandoah Valley just east of Strasburg in Shenandoah County in the north, to its highest peak east of Harrisonburg in Rockingham County in the south. The mountain is divided into northern and southern sections, divided by the New Market Gap . The northern section consists of 3 roughly parallel ridges, forming 2 valleys. The wider, main valley, is called Fort Valley , while

92-603: A political context, the Roanoke Valley usually refers collectively to Roanoke City, Salem, and Roanoke County. Some governmental functions are consolidated. For example, there is a regional sewer authority, a regional library system, and the Roanoke Regional Airport is governed by a regional commission. Salem has traditionally been more reluctant to participate in these efforts, while Botetourt County's participation has grown, most recently joining

138-673: A shawl in thanks, which is displayed at Shako:wi, the museum of the Oneida Nation near Syracuse, New York . Many Oneida believe that after the war, George Washington named the Shenandoah River and valley after his ally. Despite the valley's potential for productive farmland, colonial settlement from the east was long delayed by the barrier of the Blue Ridge Mountains . These were crossed by explorers John Lederer at Manassas Gap in 1671, Batts and Fallam

184-535: Is Interstate 81 , which parallels the old Valley Turnpike ( U.S. Route 11 ) and the ancient Great Path of the Native Americans through its course in the valley. In the lower (northern) valley, on the eastern side, U.S. Route 340 also runs north-south, starting from Waynesboro in the south, running through the Page Valley to Front Royal , and on to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia , where it exits

230-440: Is now Martinsburg, West Virginia . In the late 1720s and 1730s, Quakers and Mennonites began to move in from Pennsylvania . They were tolerated by the natives, while " Long Knives " (English settlers from coastal Virginia colony ) were less welcomed. During these same decades, the valley route continued to be used by war parties of Seneca (Iroquois) and Lenape en route from New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey to attack

276-620: Is of unknown Native American origin. It has been described as being derived from the Anglicization of Native American terms, resulting in words such as Gerando, Gerundo, Genantua, Shendo and Sherando. The meaning of these words is of some question. Schin-han-dowi , the "River Through the Spruces"; On-an-da-goa , the "River of High Mountains" or "Silver-Water"; and an Iroquois word for "Big Meadow", have all been proposed by Native American etymologists . The most popular, romanticized belief

322-492: Is part of the valley and ridge province of Virginia, which also includes the Shenandoah Valley to the northeast and the New River Valley to the southwest. The Roanoke Valley is bound to the west by a ridgeline commonly known as Christiansburg Mountain, to the north by a ridgeline formed by Fort Lewis Mountain and Brushy Mountain, and to the southwest by a ridgeline formed by Poor Mountain and adjacent peaks in

368-709: Is that the name comes from a Native American expression for "Beautiful Daughter of the Stars". Another legend relates that the name is derived from the name of the Iroquoian chief Sherando (Sherando was also the name of his people), who fought against the Algonquian Chief Opechancanough , ruler of the Powhatan Confederacy (1618–1644). Opechancanough liked the interior country so much that he sent his son Sheewa-a-nee from

414-597: The Capitol Limited route. Amtrak also runs the Cardinal through the valley along the old Virginia Central. Several localities in the valley operate public transportation systems, including Front Royal Area Transit (FRAT), which provides weekday transit for the town of Front Royal; Page County Transit , providing weekday transit for the town of Luray and weekday service between Luray and Front Royal; and Winchester Transit , which provides weekday transit for

460-763: The Alleghany Mountains . Most of the range is part of the Lee Ranger District of the George Washington National Forest and contains the Elizabeth Furnace and Camp Roosevelt recreational areas. The Potomac Appalachian Trail Club maintains the Massanutten Trail as well as several other hiking trails in the forest. Signal Knob , a former Civil War signal station on the northern peak of

506-602: The Appalachian Plateau to the west. The valley includes much of Roanoke County , as well as the two independent cities of Roanoke and Salem . The Roanoke Valley is about twenty miles (32 km) long, from the Roanoke River gorge near Virginia's Explore Park in the east to Shawsville in the west, and as much as ten miles (16 km) wide around Roanoke City though the width is closer to five miles (8 km) in most areas. The Roanoke Valley

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552-599: The Blue Ridge , which also forms the east and southeast boundaries of the valley. However, this area generally features isolated peaks and wide gaps , with the notable exception of the aforementioned gorge, instead of continuous ridgelines. Historically, the Roanoke Valley was an important fork on the Great Wagon Road , with one branch leading to the Carolina Piedmont region and the other branch,

598-579: The New River Valley MSA ) are also often considered parts of the Roanoke Valley. More frequently, the Roanoke Valley refers to the core urban and suburban areas, generally Roanoke City, Salem, Roanoke County within the geographic Roanoke Valley, and southern Botetourt County; however, areas of Franklin County and Bedford County near Smith Mountain Lake are becoming increasingly suburban. In

644-628: The Tidewater with a large party to colonize the valley. Sheewa-a-nee drove Sherando back to his former territory near the Great Lakes . According to this account, descendants of Sheewanee's party became the Shawnee . According to tradition, another branch of Iroquoians, the Senedo , lived in present-day Shenandoah County. They were exterminated by "Southern Indians" ( Catawba or Cherokee ) before

690-596: The Valley Pike or Valley Turnpike) began as the Great Warriors Trail or Indian Road, a Native road through common hunting grounds shared by several tribes settled around the periphery, which included Iroquoian , Siouan and Algonquian -language family tribes. Known native settlements within the Valley were few but included the Shawnee occupying the region around Winchester, and Tuscarora around what

736-648: The Wilderness Road , leading to Tennessee and Kentucky. The Roanoke Valley is sometimes synonymous with the Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area , which is made up of the political subdivisions of Roanoke City , Salem , Roanoke County , Botetourt County , Franklin County , and Craig County . Adjacent communities such as western Bedford County (part of the Lynchburg MSA ) and eastern Montgomery County (part of

782-476: The Blue Ridge at Swift Run Gap and reached the river at Elkton, Virginia . Settlers did not immediately follow, but someone who heard the reports and later became the first permanent settler in the Valley was Adam Miller (Mueller), who in 1727 staked out claims on the south fork of the Shenandoah River, near the line that now divides Rockingham County from Page County. The Great Wagon Road (later called

828-490: The British and Iroquois allies. According to Oneida oral tradition, during the harsh winter of 1777–1778 at Valley Forge , where the colonials suffered, Chief Skenando provided aid to the soldiers. The Oneida delivered bushels of dry corn to the troops to help them survive. Polly Cooper, an Oneida woman, stayed some time with the troops to teach them how to cook the corn properly and care for the sick. General Washington gave her

874-549: The Confederates through the use of scorched-earth tactics. The Valley, especially in the lower northern section, was also the scene of bitter partisan fighting as the region's inhabitants were deeply divided over loyalties, and Confederate partisan John Mosby and his Rangers frequently operated in the area. A series of newspaper mergers, ending in 1914, established the Daily News-Record of Harrisonburg as

920-788: The Massanutten Mountains is dominated by Silurian Massanutten Sandstone , a lateral equivalent of the Tuscarora Formation in the Appalachian Mountains to the west, overlying the Ordovician Martinsburg Formation . Erosion of the Martinsburg shale in some areas of the mountain caused the sandstone to break and slide to form talus slopes. The Massanutten Sandstone is folded in a synclinorium , and it outcrops at

966-477: The Valley against three numerically superior Union armies. The final two were the Valley Campaigns of 1864 . First, in the summer of 1864, Confederate General Jubal Early cleared the Valley of its Union occupiers and then proceeded to raid Maryland, Pennsylvania, and D.C. Then during the autumn, Union General Philip Sheridan was sent to drive Early from the Valley and once-and-for-all deny its use to

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1012-611: The arrival of white settlers. Another story dates to the American Revolutionary War . Throughout the war, Chief Skenandoa of the Oneida , an Iroquois nation based in New York , persuaded many of the tribe to side with the colonials against the British. Four Iroquois nations became British allies and caused many fatalities and damage in the frontier settlements west of Albany . Skenandoa led 250 warriors against

1058-634: The backcountry of the South . The Valley Turnpike Company improved the road by paving it with macadam prior to the Civil War and set up toll gates to collect fees to pay for the improvements. After the advent of motor vehicles, the road was refined and paved appropriately for their use. In the 20th century, the road was acquired by the Commonwealth of Virginia , which incorporated it into the state highway system as U.S. Route 11 . For much of its length,

1104-649: The backcountry of the South. This was in contrast to the chiefly English immigrants who had settled the Virginia Tidewater and Carolina Piedmont regions. Along with the Ulster Scots many Irishmen arrived in the Shenandoah valley, usually after their indentured service was up. These Irishmen usually had converted to Protestantism or kept their faith secret. In the 18th-century Thirteen Colonies and

1150-698: The city of Winchester . In addition, Shenandoah Valley Commuter Bus Service Archived May 11, 2008, at the Wayback Machine offers weekday commuter bus service from the northern Shenandoah Valley, including Shenandoah County and Warren County , to Northern Virginia ( Arlington County and Fairfax County ) and Washington . Origination points in Shenandoah County include Woodstock . Origination points in Warren County include Front Royal and Linden . The Shenandoah Valley serves as

1196-698: The daily newspaper of the Shenandoah Valley. In the late 20th century, the Valley's vineyards began to reach maturity. They constituted the new industry of the Shenandoah Valley American Viticultural Area . In 2018, a series of strikes and protests were held in Dayton 's Cargill plant. Transportation in the Shenandoah Valley consists mainly of road and rail and contains several metropolitan area transit authorities. The main north-south road transportation

1242-605: The distant Catawba in the Carolinas, with whom they were at war. The Catawba in turn pursued the war parties northward, often overtaking them by the time they reached the Potomac. Several fierce battles were fought among the warring nations in the Valley region, as attested by the earliest European-American settlers. Later colonists called this route the Great Wagon Road ; it became the major thoroughfare for immigrants' moving by wagons from Pennsylvania and northern Virginia into

1288-570: The independent United States, while interethnic marriage among Catholics remained a dominant pattern, Catholic-Protestant intermarriage became more common (notably in the Shenandoah Valley where intermarriage among Ulster Protestants and the significant minority of Irish Catholics in particular was not uncommon or stigmatized), and while fewer Catholic parents required that their children be disinherited in their wills if they renounced Catholicism, it remained more common among Catholic parents to do so if their children renounced their parents' faith than it

1334-591: The main campus of Virginia Western Community College , part of the Virginia Community College System . There are currently three, four-year institutions of higher learning in the valley: In addition, there are 12 public high schools in the Roanoke Valley. They are: As of 2018, three professional sports teams play in the Roanoke Valley: The Roanoke Valley contains the lowest point above sea level in

1380-640: The mountain, is a popular destination. The forest service also maintains several ATV trails. In 1971, the Massanutten Mountain ski lodge and four-season resort village was established near the southern peak. The private resort has nearly doubled in size since Great Eastern Resorts bought it in 1995. Wildlife on Massanutten includes black bear , coyotes , wild turkeys , white-tailed deer , timber rattlesnake , and luna moths . Significant flora includes mayapple , bluets , wild lupine , cardinal flower , and pinxter flower . The geology of

1426-661: The mountains of southwest Virginia . As a result, the Norfolk and Western Railway chose the valley as its primary route between the ports of Hampton Roads in eastern Virginia and the coal fields of southwest Virginia , West Virginia , and Kentucky . The Norfolk and Western was headquartered in Roanoke for nearly a century before merging with the Southern Railway ; the newly merged Norfolk Southern 's corporate headquarters moved to Norfolk . The railroad has remained

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1472-612: The newer Interstate 81 , constructed in the 1960s, parallels the old Valley Pike. Along with the first German settlers, known as " Shenandoah Deitsch ", many Scotch-Irish immigrants came south in the 1730s from Pennsylvania into the valley, via the Potomac River . The Scotch-Irish comprised the largest group of non-English immigrants from the British Isles before the Revolutionary War , and most migrated into

1518-779: The north by the Potomac River , to the south by the James River , and to the Southwest by the New River Valley . The cultural region covers a larger area that includes all of the Valley plus the Virginia Highlands to the west and the Roanoke Valley to the south. It is physiographically located within the Ridge and Valley Province and is a portion of the Great Appalachian Valley . Named for

1564-643: The north, where the Shenandoah River joins the Potomac , the Valley cultural region contains 10 independent cities: The central section of the Shenandoah Valley is split in half by the Massanutten Mountain range, with the smaller associated Page Valley lying to its east and Fort Valley within the mountain range. The Shenandoah Valley contains a number of geologically and historically significant limestone caves: The word Shenandoah

1610-710: The old Manassas Gap Railroad and the Norfolk and Western and Chesapeake Western . There are also more modern lines that run the length of the valley parallel to the Valley Pike and U.S. 340. The rail lines are primarily used for freight transportation, though Maryland Area Rail Commuter (MARC) trains utilize the old B&O line from stations in Martinsburg , Duffields , and Harper's Ferry to Washington Union Station in Washington, D.C. , and vice versa. Amtrak utilizes Harpers Ferry and Martinsburg as well along

1656-639: The ridge tops. Shenandoah Valley The Shenandoah Valley ( / ˌ ʃ ɛ n ə n ˈ d oʊ ə / ) is a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia in the United States. The Valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains , to the west by the eastern front of the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians (excluding Massanutten Mountain ), to

1702-668: The river that stretches much of its length, the Shenandoah Valley encompasses eight counties in Virginia and two counties in West Virginia: The antebellum composition included four additional counties that are now in West Virginia as well as four additional Virginia counties: The cultural region includes five more counties in Virginia: Between the Roanoke Valley in the south and Harpers Ferry in

1748-623: The same year, and Cadwallader Jones in 1682. The Swiss Franz Ludwig Michel and Christoph von Graffenried explored and mapped the Valley in 1706 and 1712, respectively. Von Graffenried reported that the Indians of Senantona (Shenandoah) had been alarmed by news of the recent Tuscarora War in North Carolina . Governor Alexander Spotswood 's legendary Knights of the Golden Horseshoe Expedition of 1716 crossed

1794-492: The setting for the 1965 film Shenandoah and its 1974 musical adaptation . Both stories follow the Anderson family during the Civil War. An associated song by James Stewart titled "The Legend of Shenandoah" was a very minor hit in 1965, reaching #133 on the Billboard Bubbling Under the Hot 100 chart. One of the most famous cultural references to the area does not mention the valley itself: West Virginia's state song , " Take Me Home, Country Roads " by John Denver , contains

1840-416: The smaller one is known as Little Fort Valley . The ridges of the northern section converge at New Market Gap. The southern section consists of a series of closely gathered ridges, separated by precipitous creek gorges . On the eastern side of the mountain range lie the Page Valley and the Blue Ridge Mountains . On the western side lie the North-Central Shenandoah Valley and the Great North Mountain of

1886-485: The valley into Maryland. Major east-west roads cross the valley as well, providing access to the Piedmont and the Allegheny Mountains . Starting from the north, these routes include U.S. Route 50 , U.S. Route 522 , Interstate 66 , U.S. Route 33 , U.S. Route 250 , Interstate 64 , and U.S. Route 60 . CSX Transportation operates several rail lines through the valley, including the old Baltimore and Ohio Railroad , Virginia Central Railroad . Norfolk Southern operates

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1932-424: The verge of declaring war on the Virginia Colony as a result, when Governor Gooch paid them the sum of 100 pounds sterling for any settled land in the Valley that was claimed by them. The following year at the Treaty of Lancaster , the Iroquois sold all their remaining claim to the Valley for 200 pounds in gold. The few Shawnees who still resided in the Valley abruptly headed westward in 1754, having been approached

1978-403: The water and sewer authority and regional greenway commission. Whether more functions should be provided on a consolidated basis, or if the governments should be consolidated , is an often discussed issue. Consolidation referendums in 1969 and 1990 failed because of the opposition of voters in Roanoke County. The issue has remained dormant since the 1990 referendum. The city of Roanoke hosts

2024-408: The words "Blue Ridge Mountain, Shenandoah River " in the first verse. 38°30′N 78°51′W  /  38.500°N 78.850°W  / 38.500; -78.850 Roanoke Valley The Roanoke Valley ( / ˈ r oʊ . ə ˌ n oʊ k / ROH -ə-nohk ) in southwest Virginia is an area adjacent to and including the Roanoke River between the Blue Ridge Mountains to the east and

2070-456: The year before by emissaries from their kindred beyond the Alleghenies . The Shenandoah Valley was known as the breadbasket of the Confederacy during the Civil War and was seen as a backdoor for Confederate raids on Maryland , Washington , and Pennsylvania . Because of its strategic importance it was the scene of three major campaigns. The first was the Valley Campaign of 1862 , in which Confederate General Stonewall Jackson defended

2116-444: Was in the rest of the U.S. population. Governor Spotswood had arranged the Treaty of Albany with the Iroquois (Six Nations) in 1721, whereby they had agreed not to come east of the Blue Ridge in their raiding parties on tribes farther to the South. In 1736, the Iroquois began to object, claiming that they still legally owned the land to the west of the Blue Ridge; this led to a skirmish with Valley settlers in 1743. The Iroquois were on

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