Massanutten the Backbone of the Valley

One of the Shenandoah Valley’s most conspicuous and impressive geographic formations is Massanutten Peak.

Rising to 2.900 feet above sea level and about 1,500 feet above the Valley floor, the Peak and adjoining mountain range are comprised of limestone, sandstone and shale with a quartzite–sandstone cemented with quartz – outcropping on the south face.

At one time, the Massanutten Range was home to the Catawba Indians. The name Massanutten was derived from two Native American words: ‘massa’, which means ‘ground’ and ‘nutte’, meaning ‘potato’. When combined they literally meant ‘potato ground’.

Deeply cut into a large flat limestone rock, which forms the westernmost outcropping of the Peak, is an impression of an Indian moccasin with the toe pointed due west. This may have been etched into the stone – referred to as ‘Indian Rock’ – centuries ago in order to tell tribe members the direction or path their predecessors had taken.

Just to the west of and down the mountainside from the Indian Rock is another limestone formation called ‘Devil’s Kitchen’, a narrow, room-like arrangement consisting of two rock walls with a slab ceiling or roof.

During the Civil War, the Peak served as a signal station and a lookout post for both the Confederate and Union because nearly half of Rockingham County – and a good portion of Augusta County – could be viewed from this outpost.

Major Jed Hotchkiss, serving under Confederate General Thomas ‘Stonewall’ Jackson, manned the Peak observation post, keeping a watch on the Valley during the military maneuvers in the area.

Looking down on the Valley’s gently rolling hills of fields and forest from the Peak’s vantage point, it’s hard to imagine that the scene was once the site of numerous Civil War battles. It was laid to waste by Union General Philip Sheridan, who ordered most of the Valley’s barns, fields and mills burned to the ground toward the end of the war.

The Massanutten Range, often referred to as the pine or the backbone of the Valley, figured prominently in the planning of Jackson’s famous ‘Valley Campaign’. Together with the Blue Ridge Mountains, Jackson used the Massanutten Range, which he and his troops crossed twice in 1862, as shields against the larger Union armies.

Years after the Civil War, the Peak became a favorite destination for hikers who followed a path that began near the Massanutten Caverns just east of Keezletown, and winding up the western slope of the mountain to the ridge top, and following it south to the Peak. Huckleberries, the small dark berries that resemble blueberries, could be found in abundance along the path and throughout much of the rest of Massanutten Range.

The majestic mountain peak has long been adored by area residents as a symbol of the central Shenandoah Valley. One such resident is Ruth Conn, who spent her entire life at McGaheysville. She wrote a poem called ‘Massanutten Mountain’ in May 1912 at the tender age of 19. The poem has been published several times over the years, together with John Wayland’s ‘History of Rockingham County’, which was published in 1912, and Nancy Harman’s ‘Our Educational Heritage’, which was published in 1969.