University of Virginia Library

The west side of the mountain, for about a quarter of a mile, is covered with a mass
of loose stone of a light color, which reaches down to the bank of the river. This part of
the mountain is represented in the accompanying engraving. By removing the loose
stone, pure crystal ice can always be found in the warmest days of summer. It has
been discovered even as late as the 15th of September; but never in October, although
it may exist throughout the entire year, and be found, if the rocks were excavated to a
sufficient depth. The body of rocks where the ice is found is subject to the full rays of
the sun from nine o'clock in the morning until sunset. The sun does not have the effect
of melting the ice as much as continued rains. At the base of the mountain is a spring
of water colder by many degrees than spring water generally is. "Very near this
spring," says Kercheval, "the owner of the property has removed the stone, and erected
a small log dairy, for the preservation of his milk, butter, and fresh meats. When the
author saw this little building, which was late in the month of April, the openings between
the logs, (on the side next the cavity from which the stone had been taken out,)
for eighteen inches or two feet from the floor, were completely filled with ice, and about
one-half the floor was covered with ice several inches thick. Mr. Deevers, who is the
owner of the property, informed the author that milk, butter, or fresh meats of every
kind, are perfectly safe from injury for almost any length of time, in the hottest weather.
If a fly venture in, he is immediately stiffened with the cold and becomes torpid. If a
snake in his rambles happens to pass over the rocks covering the ice, he soon loses all
motion, and dies. Christopher Heiskell, Esq., informed the author that several instances
had occurred of the snakes being found dead among the rocks covering the ice. An
intelligent young lady at the same time stated that she had seen instances of this
character. In truth, it was upon her first suggesting the fact, that the author was led
to make inquiry of Mr. Heiskell. And Mr. Deevers stated that he had several times
removed torpid flies from his dairy into a more temperate atmosphere, when they soon
recovered life and motion, and flew off."

The solution, I conceive, is to be found in the large and unusual collection of rocks,
which from their porous homogeneous texture are extremely poor conductors of heat.
One side of the mountain consists of a massive wall many hundred feet in thickness, and
heaped up against this as an abutment, is a mass of rocks containing several thousand
cubic feet. As the mountain has a general direction from NE. to SW., the talus heap containing
the ice has a NW. exposure. The cavernous nature of this heap would admit the free
entrance of atmospheric waters, which during the winter would form ice in the interior
of the mass. The ice thus situated would be protected from external heat by the surrounding
rocks, as ice in a refrigerator is isolated and protected from the external temperature,
by the non-conducting sides of the refrigerator. The Ice Mountain only
requires for the explanation of its phenomenon, the application of the familiar principle
upon which is constructed the common refrigerator, which temporarily effects what the
Ice Mountain permanently does—a temperature independent of external causes. The
Ice Mountain is, in fact, a huge sandstone refrigerator, whose increased and unusual
effects beyond those of the ordinary refrigerator, are due to the increased and unusual
collection of poor conducting materials which form its sides.

Caudy's Castle was so named from having been the retreat of an early settler when
pursued by the Indians. It is a fragment of a mountain in the shape of a half cone,
with a very narrow base, which rises from the banks of the Capon to the height of about
500 feet, and presents a sublime and majestic appearance. The Tea-Table is about 10
miles below Caudy's Castle, in a deep ragged glen, three or four miles east of the Capon.
This table is of solid rock, and presents the form of a man's hat standing on its crown.
It is about 4 feet in height and the same in diameter. From the top issues a clear stream
of water, which flows over the brim on all sides, and forms a fountain of exquisite beauty.
The Hanging Rocks are about 4 miles north of Romney. There the Wappatomka River
has cut its way through a mountain of about 500 feet in height. The boldness of the
rocks, and the wildness of the scene, excite awe in the beholder.

A bloody battle, says tradition, was once fought at the Hanging Rocks, between contending
parties of the Catawba and Delaware Indians, and it is believed that several
hundred of the latter were slaughtered. Indeed, the signs now to be seen at this place
exhibit striking evidences of the fact. There is a row of Indian graves between the rock
and public road, along the margin of the river, of from 60 to 70 yards in length. It is
believed that but very few of the Delawares escaped.