flora hillman national championship news

TheBehind Civil War, and subsequent the ecological NC: disasters, The left scars 1850s on the valley, but until conservation effortstoday have paid off

y the mid 1850s the fortunes of Fort communication TALES FROM THE TRAIL BValley were booming. To the north of from Winchester History, Stories, and Legends of Fort Valley and the the valley the profitable iron furnaces were to Richmond. • Site of the 2006 AERC NC Rides running full-tilt day and night, while in the It was said middle valley the wealthy populace contin- the Jackson ran ued to come over mountains in droves to his troops up and “take the waters” of Fort Valley’s famous down the Massa- spa and to while away their summers in nutten with such dancing, plays, and other gentle pleasures. regularity that the Life was good, and the future could not have Union Army fi- been brighter. nally refused to In less than a decade, however, Fortune follow them up would reverse herself. The opening volley the steep moun- of gunfire at Bull Run signaled the begin- tains. There was nings of a great Civil War, and once again even a little ditty Bull Run the natural fortification of Fort Valley would composed by the scene be called upon lend itself to the protection Boys in Gray: of troops. The Confederate general, J.E.B. Stonewall Jackson’s men were few Union soldiers were ever-present. “Stonewall” Jackson, was to launch his in the spring of Sixty-two, The famous spa became the headquar- famous Shenandoah Valley Campaign in But he kept the Blue-coats busy— ters for a Union general, and while his which the Massanutten would become the Fact, he almost made ’em dizzy, tenure ensured that no major battles were jewel in the center of his plan. Stealin’ marches, quickly cuttin’ fought in Fort Valley, by the end of the war The old courthouse at Woodstock, which Round about the Massanutten. the Valley was under siege. At Fisher’s Hill earlier greeted stagecoaches full of spa pa- However, the roads cut over the moun- near the north end of the Fort Valley, a 195- trons, now supervised the tramping back tains to facilitate iron wagons and spa stage- acre tract of preserved battlefield recalls a and forth of thousands of soldiers from sides, coaches now left the valley vulnerable to the Confederate defeat in September 1864. many of whom sought shelter within its thick invasion of marching armies. Throughout Less than a month later Sheridan’s stone walls while Stonewall Jackson made his the Civil War, the fortunes of Fort Valley cavalry marched through Fort Valley, and headquarters next door in Lawyers’ Row. A swayed back and forth as Confederate and continued on next page few miles south in an old log home, now a bed and breakfast, Jackson called upon Jed You & Your Horse: Protect the Partnership Hotchkiss and made his famous request, ”Make me a map of the Valley.” with Advanced Protection Formula (APF) In the early years of the Civil War the movements of I am impressed the Federal armies down What does APF do? with the research near the north and south “ • Provides proven support to the behind APF. branches of the Shenandoah immune system I believe this River were closely watched supplement is • Improves the adaptive response by Jackson’s troops upon to athletic training an important

the Massanutten, and

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august 2006 • endurance news 15 national championship news . . . it was recorded that “…By night the sky operators and hunters pushed animal spe- The work done by the CCC is still glared redly and the earth was starred with cies like elk, white tailed deer and wild evident today in the roads, campgrounds, bonfires” as most of the farm structures turkey to the brink of extinction. picnic shelters, fire towers, and other proj- and stored grain facilities were torched by ects scattered throughout the National his men. Natural resource conservation Forest, and observant trail users can find Looking down from Signal Knob at the A small group of forest reformers rec- old CCC rock mile markers placed along northern end of the valley, the helpless Con- ognized that natural resources were being the . Most of the eastern federate soldiers could see endless clouds exploited and endangered, and introduced half of the 71-mile Massanutten Trail was of smoke from the fires. Eventually Signal bills in Congress that would protect the na- constructed in the late 1930s by the Civilian Knob was taken by the Union troops in a tion’s forests. In 1891 the Forest Reserve Act Conservation Corps and various Forest Ser- bloody fight. This cut off the important line was passed that authorized the creation of vice trail crews, extending the historic use of signal stations for the Confederate army, Forest Reserves, the forerunner of what was of General Morgan’s road of 1777 and the and eventually led to the fall of the Shenan- to become the National Forest System. 1850s roads into a multi-purpose trail open doah Valley into the hands of the Federals. In 1911 the Weeks Act was passed, which to all non-motorized uses and available for Breast works used by both sides in defense made it possible for the federal government use year-round. of Signal Knob can still be seen. to buy deforested mountain land and protect it for watershed purposes. The Massanutten Long-distance trail completed Post-war recovery and damage was among the first land considered for ac- In the mid-1960s the Potomac Appala- The chaos of the Civil War left Fort Val- quisition. In 1917, 954,000 acres in northern chian Trail Club (PATC) proposed the idea of ley in ruins; her iron industry destroyed and , including the Massanutten around a long-distance circuit trail on Massanutten her farm lands scorched and burned. But the Fort Valley, were combined to become the Mountain, and in 1989 the Forest Service natural resources of the valley continued to Shenandoah National Forest. This land and PATC finally began the cooperative call to outside mining and timber interests, was later renamed the effort to construct the western half of the and by the 1880s the rapid rise in iron prices National Forest to avoid confusion with the trail on . Volunteers to fuel the country’s Industrial Revolution National Park bearing the same name. working in cooperation with the Forest Ser- brought profit to Fort Valley’s iron furnaces The first Civilian Conservation Corps vice built much of the connecting 32 miles once again. (CCC) camp in the nation was in Fort Val- of trail over a 10-year period. However, it also brought devastation ley at Camp Roosevelt near the southern A missing section on the eastern half was to the land. Repeated cuttings cleared the end of the valley. A total of 14 camps were constructed by the Old Dominion 100-Mile mountains, extensive mining caused mas- eventually opened in the George Wash- Endurance Ride Club, and The Virginia sive erosion, and streams to become clogged ington National Forest during the Great Happy Trails Running Club contributed with silt and pollution from filings. As a re- Depression of the 1930s, employing 9,200 various efforts on both the western and sult of erosion, floods came more frequently men in Virginia during the nine years of the eastern sections. and with greater damage. Miners, timber program’s existence. In September 1988 the 100 Mile World (Endurance) Championship was held on the Old Dominion trails in the Massanuttens. Out of 64 starters, 42 finished, with Becky Hart riding RO Grand Sultan to both the win and BC. In October 2004 AERC voted to bring the 2006 AERC National Championship to this historic part of Virginia to test the best of modern-day endurance riders against the rigors and excitement of the Old Dominion and Massanutten trails in and around Fort Valley. A once-in-a-lifetime experience awaits all those qualified competitors this year as they take center stage—and their place in history—at the AERC National Championship at Fort Valley, Virginia. A ride along 400 years of our American history, all set in the glorious autumn splendor of the Massanutten Mountains, could never be this much fun. So, set your sights for Virginia in October . . . and come join in the endurance festivi- ties. The 2006 AERC National Champion- ship trail awaits!

16 endurance news • august 2006