Signal Knob is the northern peak of

Massanutten Mountain Massanutten Mountain is a synclinal ridge in the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, located in the U.S. state of Virginia. The original Native American name for the ridge is unknown. Geography The mountain bisects the Shenandoah Valley just e ...

in the

Ridge and Valley Appalachians The Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, also called the Ridge and Valley Province or the Valley and Ridge Appalachians, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Highlands division. The physiographic province is divided into three sec ...

with an elevation of . It is located in

George Washington National Forest The George Washington and Jefferson National Forests is an administrative entity combining two U.S. United States National Forest, National Forests into one of the largest areas of public land in the Eastern United States. The forests cover o ...

Shenandoah County Shenandoah County (formerly Dunmore County) is a county (United States), county located in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 44,186. Its county seat is Woodstock, V ...

and Warren County in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

. The peak offers expansive views into the northern

Shenandoah Valley The Shenandoah Valley () is a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and the eastern panhandle of West Virginia in the United States. The Valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the east ...

and the town of

Strasburg, Virginia Strasburg is a town in Shenandoah County, Virginia, United States, which was founded in 1761 by Peter Stover. It is the largest town by population in the county and is known for its grassroots art culture, pottery, antiques, and American Civil ...

History

Signal Knob was used by

Signal Corps in the American Civil War The Signal Corps in the American Civil War comprised two organizations: the U.S. Army Signal Corps, which began with the appointment of Major Albert J. Myer as its first signal officer just before the war and remains an entity to this day, and ...

by both the Union and

Confederate A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

armies. The Confederates occupied it from 1862 to 1864. From Signal Knob, the Confederate Signal Corps could monitor Union troop movements and observe battles from

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

to Fisher's Hill and beyond. They could also communicate using flags, lanterns, and telescopes to other stations at

Ashby Gap Ashby Gap, more commonly known as Ashby's Gap is a wind gap in the Blue Ridge Mountains on the border of Clarke County, Loudoun County and Fauquier County in Virginia. The gap is traversed by U.S. Route 50. The Appalachian trail also passes acr ...

Burnt Springs Burned or burnt may refer to: * Anything which has undergone combustion * Burned (image), quality of an image transformed with loss of detail in all portions lighter than some limit, and/or those darker than some limit * ''Burnt'' (film), a 2015 ...

, Harmony Hollow, and

New Market Gap New Market Gap is a wind gap in the Massanutten Mountain in Virginia. The gap is located approximately in the middle of the range, dividing it into north and south sections. U.S. Route 211 runs through the gap, connecting New Market in the ...

. On August 14, 1864, a group of Union troops temporarily won control of the peak by defeating a detachment of the 61st Georgia Volunteer Infantry but could not dislodge the Confederates and were forced to retreat back down the mountain. In October, 1864, Confederate Major General

John Brown Gordon John Brown Gordon () was an American politician, Confederate States Army general, attorney, slaveowner and planter. "One of Robert E. Lee's most trusted generals" by the end of the Civil War according to historian Ed Bearss, he strongly oppos ...

surveyed the Union position at Cedar Creek from Signal Knob and devised a plan for a surprise attack. Upon Gordon's return to Strasburg, Lieutenant General

Jubal Early Jubal Anderson Early (November 3, 1816 – March 2, 1894) was an American lawyer, politician and military officer who served in the Confederate States Army during the Civil War. Trained at the United States Military Academy, Early resigned his ...

approved his plan. The Confederates successfully carried out the attack the morning of October 19, 1864 at the

Battle of Cedar Creek The Battle of Cedar Creek, or Battle of Belle Grove, was fought on October 19, 1864, during the American Civil War. The fighting took place in the Shenandoah Valley of Northern Virginia, near Cedar Creek, Middletown, and the Valley Pike. D ...

, only to be defeated later that day by a Union counter attack. Remains of Civil War era fortifications can still be seen around the area. In 2014 and 2019 on the 150th and 155th anniversaries of the Battle of Cedar Creek, rangers from the

Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park became the 388th unit of the United States National Park Service when it was authorized on December 19, 2002. The National Historical Park was created to protect several historically signifi ...

visited Signal Knob and shared with hikers the history of the mountain as well as descriptions of the Civil War reenactments happening in the valley below.

Recreation

The

Massanutten Trail The Massanutten Trail is a National Recreation Trail located in George Washington National Forest in Central Virginia. Much of the path is steep and rugged terrain, and presents many mountain vistas. The trail traverses the Massanutten Rang ...

, maintained by the

Potomac Appalachian Trail Club The Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (PATC) is a volunteer organization that works to maintain hiking trails in the Washington, D.C. area of the United States. PATC was founded in 1927 to protect and develop the local section of the then new Appal ...

, leads hikers and mountain bikers up to Signal Knob. There are many loop options of varying lengths which may be combined with the

Tuscarora Trail The Tuscarora Trail is a hiking trail in the eastern United States, following the Appalachian Mountains through portions of Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. Its route is roughly parallel to, and to the west of, the Appalachia ...

. An unimproved service road that is normally closed to vehicular traffic but available for hiking also leads up to the radio tower now located a short distance from the historic overlook. Trails in the Signal Knob area are known to be less crowded than

Shenandoah National Park Shenandoah National Park (often ) is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States that encompasses part of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia. The park is long and narrow, with the Shenandoah River and its ...

, to the east.

Notes and references

External links

Potomac Appalachian Trail Club Guide to Massanutten Mountain Hiking Trails

Description of day hike loop to Signal Knob, with photos and map
{{Mountains of Virginia Mountains of Virginia Mountains of Shenandoah County, Virginia Mountains of Warren County, Virginia