Spirit of Shenandoah
Photographers Pat and Chuck Blackley honor Virginia’s idyllic valley.
According to legend, the name Shenandoah derives from a Native American word that means “cleareyed daughter of the stars.” With its gentle mountains, rushing waters and green meadows, the spot fits its name well.
Nestled between the Blue Ridge and Allegheny mountains, the valley lies within the watershed of the Shenandoah River. Isolated from the rest of the Virginia colony by the Blue Ridge Mountains, the valley remained largely unsettled by Europeans until the early 1700s, when farmers of German and Scots-Irish descent began making their way from Pennsylvania in search of land suitable for farming. English settlers from the coastal Tidewater region followed in the mid-1700s.
These early settlers discovered fertile soil, a moderate climate, and abundant rainfall, wildlife and natural resources. Their farms yielded bountiful crops of grains and vegetables; their orchards produced bushels of apples and peaches. Sheep and cattle fattened in lush green pastures.
Today, many valley residents earn their living on family farms established by those who came before, growing the same crops and raising the same livestock. Agriculture is an important part of the regional economy: Four of Virginia’s top five agricultural counties are in the Shenandoah Valley, and numerous small farms grow vegetables and fruits to sell at farmers markets. In season, especially in Mennonite country, roadside stands sell melons, corn, strawberries, and other produce.
The region is also one of the nation’s largest exporters of apples. When orchards bloom in spring, it’s an awesome sight. Known as Virginia’s apple capital, the city of Winchester celebrates its agricultural heritage every April and May by hosting the Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival, an immensely popular weeklong event that draws thousands. This family-friendly fair features music, dancing, an arts and crafts show, parades and a carnival.
In addition to agriculture, the valley brims with history. There are plenty of museums and other sites to explore. One favorite is Winchester’s Museum of the Shenandoah Valley, which features a multitude of interesting exhibits that tell stories of the valley and its residents. Another is Staunton’s Frontier Culture Museum, which features a complex of original and reproduction 17th and 18th century
We were born and raised in Virginia’s beautiful Shenandoah Valley, and we consider ourselves blessed to live here.
farmsteads from England, Ireland, Germany and West Africa. The
West African farmstead is based on an Igbo household in land that is now Nigeria, home of some 40 percent of enslaved people brought to Virginia. Here, visitors will learn about their origins, customs and contributions to American culture.
Of course, the best way to get to know and appreciate the beauty, history and friendly people of the valley is to travel its roads and visit with folks. There are many scenic drives that take it all in, especially in the spring. Skyline Drive, in Shenandoah National Park, is one of them. Its 105-mile route offers a bird’s-eye view of the valley from the park’s lofty overlooks. While there, visitors can enjoy springtime blooming flora and watch for fawns and black bear cubs.
We love looking for wildflowers along the park’s 500-plus miles of hiking trails, including a 100-mile section of the famous Appalachian Trail. These trails also lead to the park’s stunning waterfalls, which are at their best in the spring.
At Waynesboro, Skyline Drive ends, but the road continues as the Blue Ridge Parkway, winding 469 miles through the Blue Ridge Mountains all the way to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina.
The area west of the little town of Dayton is home to a Mennonite community. We love driving the back roads and admiring the tranquil beauty of this area, with its tidy farms and pretty white houses, handsome barns, silos and grazing cattle. We always welcome and return waves and smiles from the occupants of the horse-drawn buggies we pass.
Another fantastic drive is U.S. Route 11, which takes you through the valley’s past and present. This road—the main highway through the valley before construction began on Interstate 81 in the late 1950s—has a long, storied history. Once a Native American trail, it became the Great Wagon Road, used by early settlers making their
way to the western frontier. Now known as the Valley Pike here in Shenandoah, the road opened up travel and commerce and was a key transportation route for both the Northern and Southern armies during the Civil War.
Connecting the towns of Winchester, Harrisonburg, Staunton and Lexington, Route 11 passes through charming villages and gorgeous countryside with idyllic farms and grazing livestock.
Like Skyline Drive, Route 11 is particularly scenic in the spring, with lambs and calves frolicking in intensely green pastures, farmers on tractors plowing up rows of rich, dark soil, and blooming dogwood, redbud and fruit trees painting the hillsides, with those misty blue mountains standing as a backdrop. The air is filled with the smells of mown hay and turned soil. During this time, puffy clouds float from the west in a magical, turquoise blue sky.
This drive is like a trip back in time, passing by old stagecoach stops, taverns, mills and covered bridges and Civil War battlefields and museums. Of special interest is the Virginia Museum of the Civil War, in New Market.
On May 15, 1864, New Market witnessed the arrival of 257 cadets from Virginia Military Institute— the youngest of whom was just
15. Having marched 85 miles from their school in Lexington, they joined the forces of Gen. John Breckinridge. Ten of them died and 45 were wounded, including Chuck’s great-great-uncle.
Each year, people come from all over the country to take part in the New Market battle reenactment. Held on the weekend closest to the battle’s anniversary, the event is the longest continual reenactment in the United States that is still held on the original battlefield.
In Rockbridge County at the southern end of the valley, Route 11 crosses directly over the Natural Bridge of Virginia. This National Historic Landmark in a state park is a 215-foot mammoth limestone arch that once belonged to Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington claimed to have surveyed it when he was a young man.
The valley’s cities and towns feature lovingly restored structures from the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and numerous historic sites. In Winchester, visit both a log cabin that briefly served as an office for George Washington, and the house Stonewall Jackson used as his headquarters.
About 95 miles south is the small city of Staunton, birthplace of President Woodrow Wilson and the location of his Presidential Library and Museum. Lexington, further along Route 11, is a historic college town with many Civil War sites. Everywhere you go throughout the valley, there’s a history lesson waiting to be learned.
Perhaps our beautiful valley’s greatest assets, however, are its residents. They are warm, friendly, kind and generous, as well as hard working, industrious and always eager to help a neighbor or a stranger in need.
When out photographing one day, Chuck got his Jeep stuck in a ditch. A passing farmer stopped and, after assessing the situation, told him he’d be back in a jiffy. He went down to his farm and returned shortly with a winch that he used to pull the Jeep out. Chuck thanked him, and the gentleman just told him he was glad to help. That’s typical in these parts.
For those of us who call it home, the Shenandoah Valley is truly God’s country. From its gentle blue mountains, picturesque farms and lively towns to its exciting history and wonderful people, it’s a little slice of heaven, and there’s no place we’d rather be.