Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1908-10-30
lCommunicated.l
TRIP TO The BLUE
RIDGE FOUNTAINS

lhIf lU InE DLUE
RIDGE FOUNTAINS
After leaving Millenbeck at o'clock
a. m, we had beautiful run up the
Rappahannock on the steamer Middle
sex, arriving in Fredericksburg at 6
O'Clock the next morning. We boarded
the 8 So'clock train to Orange Courthouse,
where we made connections with the
Southern" for 6arboursville. There
we took the stage for Stanardsville-
this is one continuous ascent, though
very gradual, for over fifteen miles. At
o'clock the driver halted in front of
the Eagle hotel, where we stopped for
the night and enjoyed much needed
rest. Many thanks to Mrs. Blakey,
the proprietress of the hotel, for her
many kind courtesies extended to u.s.:
long may she live. Stanardsville is a
quiet village, resting at the foot of the
first spurs of the Blue Ridge; here is
the courthouse of Greene County. We
left the next morning at o'clock for
our long mountain climb; for At hours
our horses toiled steadily up the noun
tain, the road being so rough and rocky
in many places that we had to hold on
with both hands to the iron bands around
the stage to keep from falling out.
Finally we arrived at the "Pocosan
Mission House," at the head of Green
Spring Valley-thi5 is z, 500 feet above
sea level. The Mission House and
Chapel nestle at the foot of the Green
Spring Mountain and 500 feet higher to
the east is Painters Mountain-almost
as high.
When the sun is nearly two hours
high ii the afternoon it sinks out of sight
behind the western range and is seen
no more until it is high in the heavens
the next day. The Green Spring Valley
runs south course and is extremely
rough and rocky, while to the northeast
runs the Pocossn valley, or hollow, some
five miles in length, with the Pocosan
river running down the centre.
All along the read one sees thousands
of trees lying on the ground. 1t seems
as if tan-bark is the mountaineer's prin-
cipal source of revenue, and every spring
when the sap rises they cut the oak
trees down and strip off the bark, get
ting hundreds of tons, for which they
get from So to $40 cord. The tree is
then left to decay as there are no rail-
roads or saw-mills there. Millions of
feet of beautiful oak lumber are left to
rot. 1t is to be hoped that ere long the
iron horse will be putting and snorting
| through these mountains, with the saw
mill to follow and utilize thisgreatwaste
of timber and at the same time better
the condition OF the mountaineers. They
build their houses of hewed oak logs, and
almost without exception build near a
stream or spring, which is usually in
some rocky hollow" ] asked them
why they didn't select level place to
build on. They said it was almost i'm
possible to dig wells through the hard
rocks, so they had TO place their houses
near the water. We found the people
to be rugged and hearty-f;ne specimens
of humanity in physical sense and, true
to the mountain type, they are extreme
ly hospitable ard ks;;ad-hearted and per
fectly contented with their surroundings.
1t seems to be the natural home of
the apple wherever there is earth
enough to cover the roots the trees
grow and bear well-no blight or disease
seems to affect them. The Milan, York
Imperial and Winesap are the best
known in the mountains. Their
orchards consist largely of seed
lings. / showed them the art of bud
ding and grating and how easy it is to
turn sour and worthless fruit into a
sweet good one. They seemed more thar
surprised that it could be done so easily.
Many of the old Veterans of the doth
Virgins, Fields brigade. will remember
that mild December day of 1868 wher
Jackson was leading his victorious army
from the Valley of Virginia, across the
Blue Ridge. down to fight the battle OF
Fredericksburg, that we stopped by 9
large spring on the summit Of the
/ mountain and filled our canteens with
clear, pure free-stone water. We Wis
tied this spring source of the Rap
pahannock river. We found it to bt
some or 10 feet in diameter and to
5 feet deep. Looking down into it.
clear, crystal depths, you can see the
water gushing out between huge rocks.
AS it tumbles over the rocks on the east
ern slope it forms the Flower river, 81
named from the quantity of wild flower,
along the banks; this empties into tn,
Robinson river, which again emptie
into the Rapidan, and that joins the Rap
pahannock above Fredericksburg.
We climbed to the summit of one O
the highest peaks of the Blue Ridge
The ascent affords some rare views. A
we near the summit, after much har,
toll, all the attractive valleys passe,
before now repose in beauty far below
When We finally reached the highes
point, oh what grand panorama wa
opened to our vision! 1t is far beyon
my inadequate pen to describe sue
magnificent scenery-it is simply won
derful, indescribable. Madison, Greene
Orange, Page, Albemarle, Rockingham
and Shenandoah-seven counties all il
full view. Such glories of light an