Smoke Hole Canyon — traditionally called The Smoke HolesThe 1850 United States census references residents living in "The Smoke Holes" of Pendleton County, Virginia. and later simply Smoke Hole — is a rugged long gorge carved by the South Branch Potomac River in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia, United States. The area is rather isolated and remote with parts accessible only by boat or on foot.
Defined to the east by Cave Mountain and to the west by North Fork Mountain, Smoke Hole has been part of the Monongahela National Forest's Spruce Knob–Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area since 1965, although some of it is still private land. Formerly, the area was home to a scattered community of family homesteads, storied for their isolation, traditional lifestyles, and skilled production of the illicit liquor known as "moonshine". Today, The Nature Conservancy considers Smoke Hole and the surrounding mountains to be "one of the most biologically rich places in the East", especially as regards its rare plant communities. It included the Canyon as part of the greater Smoke Hole-North Mountain Bioreserve during its "Last Great Places" campaign.
Geography and description Smoke Hole is situated in southern Grant and northern Pendleton Counties. It is defined by North Fork Mountain to the west and Cave Mountain to the east. At places the Canyon is over deep with nearly vertical walls. (The riverbed is at about above sea level and the summit of Cave Mountain is .) Views of the Canyon can be had along the long North Fork Mountain Trail to the west where sods and cedar barrens can be visited. Caves are common in the Canyon slopes. Some are home to the endangered Virginia big-eared bat and are therefore closed to visitors during critical nesting or hibernation periods.
The main — and traditional — entrance into the Smoke Hole is from the south through a water gap between Big Mountain and Cave Mountain about two miles north of the community of Upper Tract. (This is about 1.5 miles along Pendleton County Route 2 beyond the bridge where US Route 220 crosses the South Branch.) The name of this "gateway" to the Canyon is Cave Mountain Gap and it represents a half mile cut through the high ridge separating the ancient riverbed of the South Branch Potomac River (to the east) from the ancient bed of Briggs Run (to the west).
Eons ago — through a process known as "river piracy" or stream capture — the flow of the river was diverted cataclysmically from its old bed westward into what would eventually become the present Smoke Hole gorge through massive excavation and erosion. This likely developed through an intermediate stage during which the South Branch (or its precursor stream here, the lower Briggs Run) traversed the future Smoke Hole region underground. The roof of the vast subterranean channel then collapsed forming the karst topography seen today.; Sponsored by the Conservation Commission of West Virginia Before the river exits the gap it passes through a narrow channel with ferocious rapids locally known as the "Rock Break". Nearby is Big Spring, source of the water supply for Upper Tract, which discharges 1,040 gallons per minute.McColloch, Jane S. (1986, revised edition), Springs of West Virginia, West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey, pg 284. (The spring issues from the base of Cave Mountain and is situated about 1,000 feet directly downhill of Cave Mountain Cave [formerly, "Big Cave"]. Many explorers have tried to find connections between the dry cave — which has had over two miles of passages mapped as of 2001 — and the spring, but so far without success. It was here, at cave and spring, that Confederates operated a salt petre works during the Civil War.Dasher, George R. (2001), The Caves and Karst of Pendleton County, West Virginia Speleological Survey Bulletin #15, pp 117-118.) High above the river, on the north side of the gap, is a prominent range of limestone cliffs which represent the Cave Mountain Anticline. Here also, at river level, is a very prominent crag — Eagle Rock. A bit further on, Cat Path Rocks, a perpendicular cliff, has been partially cut through by the roadbed and is followed by another outcropping known as High Rocks.
About two miles downstream of the entrance, the river bifurcates to create the low-lying Hermit Island (4.5 acres), formerly a popular picnicking ground and site of a two-storey log cabin that served as a community center ("Calhoun's Community Camp") from 1928.Calhoun, H.M. Sr., "Hermit Island", The West Virginia Review, 6:12, Sept 1929, pg 458. Almost directly across the river, and high on the hillside, is the Canyon's namesake, Smoke Hole Cave. Passing on down the river, one encounters Fishing Rock and Fishing Rock Ford and finally comes, at 3.8 miles from the entrance, to an intersection near Shreve's Country Store, Smoke Hole Campground and the old Palestine Church ("Old Log Church"). This area was the center of the "town of Smoke Hole" proper, site of an official post office for a time. From here a steep Forest Service road switchbacks 5.4 miles up to the former site of the North Fork Mountain Lookout Tower. Grant County Route 28/11 also proceeds from this intersection and traverses the northern half of the Canyon well above the river level for about where it exits the Canyon at WV Route 55/28. (NB: Both Grant County Route 28/11 and Pendleton County Route 2 are indicated on maps as "Smoke Hole Road". The former was previously called FR 74.)
From the Shreve's Country Store intersection, CR 2 continues north another two miles along the river (past Old Mines Cave Rocks, mile 4.1 and Old Mines Cave, mile 5.8) to the abandoned town of Ketterman (mile 6.3) — also site of an erstwhile post office — and then a final mile to Big Bend Campground (mile 7.3) where the motorable roadway ends. Big Bend constitutes an unusual "peninsula" in the river; the river here loops for about 1.3 miles back to a point just 350 feet from itself. (The narrow ridge between the riverbanks here was traditionally known as "Arm Ridge".)
The South Branch collects a number of minor streams in the Canyon; these include Briggs Run (0.6 mile from the entrance), Dry Hollow Run (mile 1.0), Chevaux-de-fris Run (mile 3.8, at the road intersection), Short (Pack Saddle) Run (mile 5.5), Long (Feather Bed) Run (mile 5.8), and — beyond the Big Bend — Redman Run (mile 13.3) and Landes Hollow Run (mile 16.6). Beyond the Big Bend, the Canyon has the character of a remote wilderness; it is one of the most isolated regions of the state and can be traversed only on foot or by boat. Formerly, a primitive wagon road threaded its way through the lower Canyon, but most traces of this are long gone. Prominent named crags and caves along this section include Indian House Cave (mile 10.1), Castle Rock (mile 11.3), Blue Rock (mile 16.2), and Bulls Head (mile 16.6), just below which is Peacock Cave (mile 16.6). About 3 miles on (mile 20.7), the river debouches from the Canyon. After another half mile, the South Branch collects the North Fork South Branch just below Cabins.
History
Early settlers The first Smoke Hole settlers followed quickly on the heels of the first in the South Branch valley, which arrived in the late 1740s. A man named Steele (given name now lost) was the first Smoke Holer, arriving sometime in the 1750s. He built a cabin near the (still standing) Palestine Church and his daughter Katie married another pioneer, George Full — the first wedding celebrated in the Canyon.Calhoun, H.M. Sr. (6 November 1930), "Tales of Historic Smoke Hole and Seneca Rocks Interestingly Told", from a column in The Herald of Franklin, West Virginia; Reprinted (pp 175-180) in: Shreve, D. Bardon (2005), Sheriff from Smoke Hole (and Other Smoke Hole Stories), Fredericksburg, Virginia: The Fredericksburg Press, Inc. Another young Steele daughter, Susie, out alone searching for a family cow, fell victim to a wandering band of Native Americans. Her father found her scalped, she died soon after, and he buried her nearby on a small promontory still known as "Susie Hill".Calhoun, H.M. Sr. (1 November 1929), "Tales of the Smoke Hole"; Reprinted (pp 151-153) in: Shreve, (2005). George Full built his home and a grist mill in the same vicinity.West Virginia Writers Project (1940), Smoke Hole and Its People: A Social-Ethnic Study; Charleston, West Virginia: State Department of Education; Reprinted (pp 101-132) in: Shreve, D. Bardon (2005), Sheriff from Smoke Hole (and Other Smoke Hole Stories), Fredericksburg, Virginia: The Fredericksburg Press, Inc, pg 114. The parents of Revolutionary War veteran William Eagle (1761–1848)National Archives and Records Administration. U.S. Pensioners, 1818–1872 Record for William Eagle - PRIVATE arrived shortly afterward. (Eagle returned after the war and is buried near the 300-foot-high crag that bears his name.Eagle enlisted in the Continental Line at age 15 on 24 December 1776. He served in the 3rd, 4th, 8th and 12th Virginia Regiments and was present at Valley Forge and Yorktown. All traces of his grave were lost until around 1930 when the USFS found it during a survey. A new white marble stone was dedicated by a descendant on 30 May 1930.) Another Revolutionary War veteran settled there in the years after the conflict, but he — Charles Bleachynden — had been one of the enemy: he was one of the Hessian soldiers (German mercenaries) surrendered at Yorktown in 1781 with Lord Cornwallis' forces.Calhoun, H.M. Sr. (13 November 1930), "Tales of Historic Smoke Hole and Seneca Rocks Interestingly Told", from a column in The Herald of Franklin, West Virginia; Reprinted (pp 180-183) in: Shreve, D. Bardon (2005).
The earliest settler families — the Steeles, Fulls, Eagles, Coxes, Boars, Shreves, and Van Meters — were sustained by smallholder farming, supplemented by hunting and fishing. (In those days, available game included bison, elk and puma.) Livestock, especially swine and sheep, were typically free-ranging and huckleberries and chestnuts were harvested from the wooded mountainsides in quantity. Maple sugar, maple syrup and wild honey were all available with a minimum of effort. Fruit orchards were also harvested, but — owing to the inaccessibility of the community — only very infrequently was local produce brought to market at nearby Petersburg or Franklin. This situation continued to prevail for several generations.
The origin of the name "Smoke Hole" is undocumented. Some old timers used to refer to the area as the "Smoke Holes". The oldest explanation appears to be the story that Native Americans used a well-known cave in the gorge (Smoke Hole Cave) for smoking meat; this cave has a room shaped like an inverted funnel with a hole at the apex through which smoke could escape and be seen from some distance.Swiger, C.W. "I Discover the Smoke Hole", The West Virginia Review, 8:1, Oct 1930, pg 24. (Details a visit to Smoke Hole in spring 1930.) But it has also been suggested that a misty fog often lies along the river and ascends, thus evoking a "smoky hole", and that this is possibly the origin. A third popular story is that the fires of moonshiner's stills during prohibition days (and before) gave the gorge its name. Longtime residents of the gorge have insisted that the Indian "smoke house" cave story is the only genuine one and the only explanation that pre-dates the ones on the local state historical highway markers.Shreve, D. Bardon, with Estyl C. Shreve (1997), A Place Called Smoke Hole, Fredericksburg, Virginia: Fredericksburg Press, pg 16.
The 19th century The earliest settler families were followed, a generation or two later, by a second wave — the Kimbles, Alts, Stumps, Judys, Helmicks, and Kettermans.Shreve (1997), Op. cit., pg 2.