Of Geology and History: Blackrock Summit

I mentioned in the post yesterday that on Sunday I decided to get out for a short hike in the south district of Shenandoah National Park, to Blackrock Summit.  This is one of two so-named peaks in the Park; there is another in the central district near Big Meadows Lodge.  I’ve written about that view before – you can pick out our neighbors Jordan Hollow Inn and Wisteria Vineyards looking northwest from there.

To get to this Blackrock Summit, it’s best to enter the Park from Elkton through Swift Run Gap, as the trailhead is between milepost 84 and 85 heading south.  Of course, I passed the location of the GWNF fire I posted about last night going through Shenandoah on the way down to Elkton.  As I expected, there was already a big crowd at the entry station, but luckily for me, most of them were headed north to other destinations.

Before I get into the details of the day hike, I am going to take a detour for a moment and write about a couple of historic references to this area. Leaving aside the long history of the First Peoples in this area, there is a rich lore associated with Blackrock that dates back to the Revolutionary War. It also figures in the Civil War, as this area is part of Stonewall Jackson’s 1862 Valley Campaign. Finally, there was an old resort in this area, which welcomed travelers as early as 1830.

For the Revolutionary War tale, I will draw from my trusty copy of Henry Heatwole’s Guide to Shenandoah National Park (Fourth Edition, 1988):

“In the spring of 1781, during the American Revolution, the British were pressing westward in Virginia. The Virginia Assembly, to avoid capture, fled across the mountain to Staunton. Thomas Jefferson, governor of Virginia, entrusted the State Archives and Great Seal to his friend Bernis Brown. Bernis hid them in a cave here at Blackrock, where they remained throughout the rest of the war.”

For the story of the hotel, I will excerpt from Darwin Lambert’s The Undying Past of Shenandoah National Park ( 2001):

“…the Black Rock Springs Hotel, high on the Blue Ridge…was a summering place for socialites, mostly from Tidewater Virginia and from Baltimore and Philadelphia. ..Stories were told of long-ago brides and grooms who first met at Black Rock Springs, which was promoted as “superior to all the spas of Europe” and may have been operating as early as 1830 inside the present park boundary.

…

“The hotel building had accommodated 30 people at a time. There were also 30 private cottages, all wiped out (JT note, in earlier passages Lambert refers to a 1909 fire) along with bridges on the road up to the resort.”

Finally, a note about Jackson’s 1862 campaign: Lambert writes, “Military writers have called his Valley Campaign the strategic equal of any in history.” The transcription of one of the interpretive signs at Brown’s Gap, a nearby Skyline Drive overlook, says:

“Browns Gap…was one of the strategic mountain passes used in the spring of 1862 by Stonewall Jackson near the beginning and end of his whirlwind offensive. His secret military strategy took full advantage of the complex topography to divide, confuse, or defeat piece-meal, over 45,000 Union soldiers engaged in a futile attempt to ensnare him. In 40 days, his 17,000 troops won five battles, maneuvering over 400 miles through the Shenandoah Valley and adjacent mountains.”

Tomorrow, I’ll post about the hike.