Fort Valley,
Virginia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fort Valley is a mountain valley in Shenandoah
County, Virginia.
The so-called "valley within a valley" lies between the two arms of
the northern Massanutten Mountain range in the Shenandoah Valley. The valley is closed at both ends (except for a very
narrow gap at the northern end through which Passage Creek
flows and a single road, S.R. 678, runs) but opens out as one moves toward the
center, becoming about three miles wide at its widest. In all, Fort Valley is
23 miles long.
Roads exit the valley at Edinburg
Gap (S.R. 675) towards Edinburg, Moreland Gap (S.R. 730) towards New Market and Edith Gap (S.R. 675) towards Luray.
There is also a dirt road that leads to Woodstock (S.R 758) over Powell Mountain.
The valley is mostly rural, consisting of private farmland, surrounded by the George Washington National Forest,
which covers the slopes on both the east and west mountains. The Elizabeth Furnace and Camp Roosevelt Recreation Area
of the G.W. Forest are located within Fort Valley.
According to tradition, Daniel Morgan
built the first road into Fort Valley from the north, at the order of George Washington, with a view to holing up in this naturally fortified
valley as a possible last stand against the British
during the American Revolution. The Continental Army's victory at Yorktown
altered Washington's plans.
The entire wiki link on the subject with an image can be
found at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Valley,_Virginia
Poster's comments:
1) I have camped twice on Massanutten Mountain back in the
1980's.
2) I have used George Washington's engineered and narrow road to get up to the top of the
mountain ridge. This road was improved by the WPA back in the 1930's.
3) After Valley Forge, this is where George Washington
planned to "hunker down" his army for the next winter after Valley
Forge.
4) After the USA victory at Yorktown, this location became a
moot point and needless, so to speak.
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