Historical collections of Virginia containing a collection of the most interesting facts, traditions, biographical sketches, anecdotes, &c., relating to its history and antiquities, together with geographical and statistical descriptions : to which is appended, an historical and descriptive sketch of the District of Columbia : illustrated by over 100 engravings, giving views of the principal towns, seats of eminent men, public buildings, relics of antiquity, historic localities, natural scenery, etc., etc. |
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Page county was formed in 1831, from Rockingham and Shenandoah,
and named from John Page, governor of Virginia from 1802
to 1805. The county is 34 miles long, with a mean width of 11
miles, and consists of one entire valley, with the Shenandoah
running its whole length through it, from N. to S., and the Blue
Ridge lying on the east, and the Fort or Massanuttin mountain on
the west. These mountains ever present a beautiful and picturesque
appearance, whether viewed robed in the snow, ice, and
clouds of winter, the refreshing green of summer, or the gorgeous
hues of autumn. The soil of Page is generally of the best quality
on the Shenandoah River, and Hawksbill, and other creeks. The
mineral wealth of the county is great; iron abounds, and copper,
lead, magnesia, and beautiful marble, are found in many places.
Population in 1840, whites 5,195, slaves 781, free colored 216;
total, 6,194.
Luray, the county-seat, is 130 miles NW. from Richmond, and 96
from Washington. It is situated on the Hawksbill creek, near the
centre of the county. The first house was built here in 1814. It
now contains several mercantile stores, 2 or 3 churches, and a
population of about 500. About one mile west of the town of
Luray, is a cave which is but little inferior in extent, beauty, and
magnificence, to Weyer's cave. Its entrance is at the top of a
small mountain called Cave Hill, and not being very accessible,
is not much visited. The most splendid apartments in it are Congress
and Masonic Halls. From a published description of the
cave by those who first explored it, we extract the following, relative
to these beautiful rooms:
Congress Hall.—After descending, as we supposed, about a quarter of a mile, the
passage became very straight and smooth, and gradually enlarged until we perceived
that we stood in front of a room whose dimensions; from the light of our candles, we
could not discover. The entrance here, as in the room which we first entered, was ten
or fifteen feet above the level of the floor. After a few moments, however, by clinging
to the projections of spar, which here appeared like large icicles, the whole party stood
safely upon the floor of this great room. Here all the wonder and magnificence of the
subterranean world burst upon us at once. We found that we stood in a room, the
area of whose floor was equal to a quarter of an acre. Immediately before us, and
within a few feet of the centre of the room, arose a vast column, or pillar, in some degree
combining architectural proportions, and running up about thirty feet, and supporting
the dome of this immense hall. This column stands upon a block, or rude
pedestal, about three feet in height, and the shaft where it rests upon it is about the
thickness of a man's body. It then swells gradually until it becomes, at the distance
of twenty feet from its base, about the size of a barrel, whence it continues of the same
size, until it gradually enlarges into its capital, where it reaches the dome. Strange to
tell, this vast column is almost as regularly fluted or grooved, as if it had been done
with the chisel of the sculptor. About fifteen feet from the main pillar stand two
smaller ones, about ten feet in height, which consequently do not reach the ceiling; and
just at their base, and nearly between them, is a small pool or basin of water. We
perceived by the united glare of all our candles, that the whole of the arch of this immense
hall was hung with the most beautiful stalactites, and variegated with almost
every possible variety of color. In some places it was perfectly white, then red, gray,
or yellow, and in others it was as clear, and transparent as ice.
In looking around us towards the lights which were dispersed in different parts of
the hall, the various small spars or pillars that were pointing up—others that had
been detached from the ceiling and lay scattered about the floor—and numerous large
blocks of crystallized limestone, produce novel and almost indescribable feelings. It
did not require an imagination unusually fervid, to liken this dim picture of the floor to
the miniature ruins of some great city, with a few of its spires and steeples pointing up
from the ruins; or to some mighty temple, with its shattered and broken columns and
fallen walls, with just sufficient of its materials to show the style of its former magnificence.
Masonic Hall.—In this room, about three and a half feet above the level of the floor,
is a complete wainscot or chairboard, with apparent mouldings and carved work in
complete relief, and extending in one entire and unbroken circle around the room. In
the centre of the floor stand three large spars, resembling candlesticks of a mammoth size.
These candlesticks arise from the floor of the room, with various enlargements and diminutions
resembling carved work, until they reach the exact level of the chairboard,
about two feet. As if to make the copy more exact, and the resemblance more palpably
striking, the candlesticks seem to be of a dusky or bronze color, and the candle or spar
arising from it of a clear white. The crystallization on the walls of this room is in
beautiful waves and folds, resembling drapery. At one end of the room, a large spar,
resembling a bed-post, stood in beautiful relief from the wall, and large folds and waves
of drapery, resembling curtains, seemed to hide the rest of the bed.
Here, then, our admiration and astonishment were at their height. Our feelings had
been wrought up to a degree of almost painful intensity. Here we stood, hundreds of
feet beneath the surface of the earth, and a full half-mile from the first entrance, treading
upon a spot and breathing an atmosphere which had not been disturbed since the
creation of the world. A place in which the human voice had never before been heard,
and on whose beauties the human eye had never rested. There was, in truth, an awful
sublimity in the state of our feelings, superinduced not only by what we saw, but in
part, perhaps, by a contingent danger to which we were exposed. The falling of the
arch, or the rolling of a single rock into some of the narrow passages which we had to
retrace, would have shut us up in eternal darkness in this mysterious region of wonders.
Powell's Fort Valley, on the line of this and Shenandoah county,
derives its name, says tradition, from an Englishman named
Powell, who in early times discovered a silver mine in the West
Fort mountain, and commenced coining money, and when attempts
were made to arrest him, sought shelter in the fastnesses
of the mountain. Kercheval says:
The grandeur and sublimity of this extraordinary work of nature, consist in its tremendous
height and singular formation. On entering the mouth of the fort, we are
struck with the awful height of the mountains on each side, probably not less than a
thousand feet. Through a very narrow passage, a bold and beautiful stream of water
rushes, called Passage creek, which a short distance below works several fine merchant
mills. After travelling two or three miles, the valley gradually widens, and for upwards
of twenty miles furnishes arable land, and affords settlements for eighty or ninety families,
several of whom own very valuable farms. The two mountains run parallel about 24
or 25 miles, and are called the East and West Fort mountains, and then are merged
into one, anciently called Mesinetto, now Masinutton mountain. The Masinutton
mountain continues its course about 35 or 36 miles southerly, and abruptly terminates
nearly opposite Keisletown, in the county of Rockingham. This range of mountains
divides the two great branches of the Shenandoah River, called the South and North
forks. This mountain, upon the whole, presents to the eye something of the shape of
the letter Y, or perhaps more the shape of the houns and tongue of a wagon.
A few miles above Luray, [says Kercheval,] on the west side of the river, there
are three large Indian graves, ranged nearly side by side, thirty or forty feet in length,
twelve or fourteen feet wide, and five or six feet high: around them, in a circular form,
are a number of single graves. The whole covers an area of little less than a quarter
of an acre. They present to the eye a very ancient appearance, and are covered over
with pine and other forest growth. The excavation of the ground around them is
plainly to be seen. The three first-mentioned graves are in oblong form, probably contain
many hundreds of human bodies, and were doubtless the work of ages.
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