Places

Rising 1,500 feet above the Valley floor and marking the northern end of Massanutten Mountain is Signal Knob.

The Valley Turnpike was the main transportation route through the Shenandoah Valley in the early 1800s. During the Civil War both US and Confederate armies used it. The armies contested the crossing at Cedar Creek during the campaigns of 1862 and 1864, with the bridge burned and rebuilt several times.

The Confederate surprise attack in the pre-dawn fog of October 19, 1864 struck here against the 8th Corps first, then drove the rest of the Federal troops from their camps around Belle Grove Plantation. 

Veterans of New York's 128th Infantry Regiment dedicated a monument in memory of their comrades who died at the Battle of Cedar Creek. The monument marks the left end of the U.S. 19th Corps' position during the battle. 

Herbert Hill, veteran of the 8th Vermont Infantry Regiment, was just 18 years-old during the Battle of Cedar Creek. Twenty years after the war ended, Hill erected a monument where the 8th Vermont made its sacrificial stand to slow the Confederate attack.

A place of unmatched scenic beauty where generations can gather to understand, commemorate, and draw meaning from our nation's heritage.

Woodland trails pass earthwork fortifications left behind from the Civil War's Shenandoah Valley campaigns. The museum, inside the Strasburg Visitor and Information Center, displays artifacts curated by Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation.

The museum and visitor center features artifacts from the Civil War and the mid-19th century Shenandoah Valley, a digital media center, research library, and conference area.

With their camps overrun, Hayes’s and Kitching’s Federals withdrew toward this ridge to fight back against Gen. Stephen D. Ramseur’s advancing Confederates. The US troops here left to regroup north and west as the 8th Vermont and the rest of Thomas’s brigade crossed the nearby ravine to cover their retreat. Confederate soldiers, hungry, cold, and wet, began to leave their regiments to loot abandoned Federal campsites.

In early October, troops of the 8th Corps under Col. Rutherford B. Hayes camped along this ridge. While the army often woke up early and scouted for the enemy, they spent much time lounging in camp and reading mail from home. On October 11, these fields buzzed with activity as Ohio soldiers came to cast absentee votes in the 1864 election. Their votes and their victory at Cedar Creek a week later helped Abraham Lincoln win reelection.