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Valley Pike or Valley Turnpike is the traditional name given for the Indian trail and roadway which now is designated as U.S. Highway 11 in the Shenandoah Valley
Shenandoah Valley

The Shenandoah Valley is both a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and West Virginia in the United States. The valley is bound to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the eastern front of the Ridge-and-valley Appalachians , to the north by the Potomac River and to the south by the James River ....
 of Virginia
Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia is an United States U.S. state on the East Coast of the United States of the Southern United States. The state is known as the "Old Dominion" and sometimes as "Mother of Presidents", because it is the birthplace of Lists of United States Presidents by place of birth#By state....
.

Long before the arrival of English colonists, Native Americans of the Delaware and Catawba
Catawba (tribe)

The Catawba are a sovereign and recognized nation, not a tribe, of Native Americans in the United States, in the Southeast United States, along the border between North Carolina and South Carolina....
 tribes used this well-watered path as a migratory route and hunting grounds, moving between what is now Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)

Georgia is a U.S. state in the United States and was one of the original Thirteen Colonies that revolted against United Kingdom rule in the American Revolution....
 and Canada
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
.






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Us 11
Valley Pike or Valley Turnpike is the traditional name given for the Indian trail and roadway which now is designated as U.S. Highway 11 in the Shenandoah Valley
Shenandoah Valley

The Shenandoah Valley is both a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and West Virginia in the United States. The valley is bound to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the eastern front of the Ridge-and-valley Appalachians , to the north by the Potomac River and to the south by the James River ....
 of Virginia
Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia is an United States U.S. state on the East Coast of the United States of the Southern United States. The state is known as the "Old Dominion" and sometimes as "Mother of Presidents", because it is the birthplace of Lists of United States Presidents by place of birth#By state....
.

Long before the arrival of English colonists, Native Americans of the Delaware and Catawba
Catawba (tribe)

The Catawba are a sovereign and recognized nation, not a tribe, of Native Americans in the United States, in the Southeast United States, along the border between North Carolina and South Carolina....
 tribes used this well-watered path as a migratory route and hunting grounds, moving between what is now Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)

Georgia is a U.S. state in the United States and was one of the original Thirteen Colonies that revolted against United Kingdom rule in the American Revolution....
 and Canada
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
. Beginning in the 1730s, Scots-Irish
Scots-Irish American

Scotch-Irish or Scots-Irish refers to inhabitants of the United States and, by some, of Canada who are of Ulster Scots people descent. The term may be qualified with American as in "Scotch-Irish American" or "American of Scots-Irish ancestry"....
 and German
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
 immigrants coming from Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania , often colloquially referred to as PA by natives and Northeasterners, is a U.S. state located in the Northeastern United States and Mid-Atlantic States regions of the United States....
 began to move up the valley and establish settlements. As a result of the Treaty of Lancaster
Treaty of Lancaster

The Treaty of Lancaster was a treaty signed between the Six Nations Native American groups, including the Iriquois and the colonies of Virginia and Maryland....
, the Iroquois
Iroquois

The Iroquois Confederacy is a group of First Nations/Native Americans in the United States that originally consisted of five nations: the Mohawk nation, the Oneida tribe, the Onondaga , the Cayuga nation, and the Seneca nation....
 were promised a marked path up the Valley which was laid out in 1745 by James Patton and John Buchanan. Initially called the "Indian Road", it was later known as the "Great Wagon Road
Great Wagon Road

The Great Wagon Road was a colonial American thoroughfare from Pennsylvania to North Carolina and from there to Georgia . It was the heavily traveled main route for settlement of the Southern United States, particularly the 'back country'....
."

On March 3, 1834, The Valley Turnpike Company was incorporated by an act of the Virginia General Assembly
Virginia General Assembly

The Virginia General Assembly is the State legislature of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The General Assembly is a bicameralism body consisting of a lower house, the Virginia House of Delegates, with 100 members, and an upper house, the Senate of Virginia, with 40 members....
, and the state participated in the public-private venture through the Virginia Board of Public Works
Virginia Board of Public Works

The Virginia Board of Public Works was a governmental agency which oversaw and helped finance the development of Virginia's internal transportation improvements during the 19th century....
 with a 40% investment to build between Winchester
Winchester, Virginia

Winchester is an independent city located in the extreme northwestern portion of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the USA. The city's population was 23,585 according to the United States Census 2000....
 and Harrisonburg
Harrisonburg, Virginia

Harrisonburg is an independent city in the Shenandoah Valley region of Virginia in the United States. Its population was 40,468 at the United States Census 2000 and 44,039 according to 2007 estimates....
. A similar road from Harrisonburg to Staunton
Staunton, Virginia

Staunton is an independent city within the confines of Augusta County, Virginia in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The population was 23,853 as of the United States Census 2000....
 was built by another company, and they merged. The new combined road, by then known as the "Valley Pike", was significantly improved and tolls
Toll road

A toll road, , is a road for which a driver pays a toll for use. Structures for which tolls are charged include toll bridges and toll tunnels....
 were charged for the upkeep of its length.

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The Valley Pike was a key transportation link during the American Civil War
American Civil War

The American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several Naming the American Civil War, was a civil war in the United States....
, and was used by Confederate
Confederate States of America

The Confederate States of America formed as the government set up from 1861 to 1865 by eleven Southern United States U.S. state of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S....
 General Stonewall Jackson
Stonewall Jackson

Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson was a Confederate States Army general during the American Civil War, and probably the most well-known Confederate commander after General Robert E....
 to expedite his foot cavalry
Foot cavalry

Foot cavalry was an oxymoron coined to describe the rapid movements of infantry troops serving under Confederate States of America General Stonewall Jackson during the American Civil War ....
 up and down the Valley and to and from the various mountain gaps (such as Swift Run Gap
Swift Run Gap

Swift Run Gap is a wind gap in the Blue Ridge Mountains located in the U.S. State of Virginia....
 and Thornton Gap
Thornton Gap

Thornton Gap is a wind gap located in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia separating the Shenandoah Valley from the Piedmont region of the state....
) which he used to make sudden appearances in front of Union
Union (American Civil War)

During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the Federal government of the United States of the United States, which was supported by the twenty-three states which were not part of the secession attempt by the 11 states that formed the Confederate States of America....
 troops in the Piedmont region on the east side of the Blue Ridge Mountains
Blue Ridge Mountains

The Blue Ridge, or Blue Ridge Mountains, is a Physiographic regions of the world of the larger Appalachian Mountains division. The province consists of the Northern and Southern physiographic sections, which divide near the Roanoke River gap....
.

In 1918, The Valley Turnpike Company, which had been managed by a young Harry Flood Byrd, allowed the Valley Turnpike to be one of the first roads taken over by the state. It was designated as part of State Route 3, one of the routes of the state highway system managed by the State Highway Commisson.

The Valley Turnpike was given the U.S. Route 11 designation in 1926, and remained the major north-south highway thoroughfare for the Shenandoah Valley until Interstate 81
Interstate 81

Interstate 81 is an Interstate Highway in the eastern part of the United States. Its southern terminus is at Interstate 40 in Dandridge, Tennessee; its northern terminus is on Wellesley Island at the Canada?United States border, where the Thousand Islands Bridge connects it to Highway 401 , the main freeway connecting Windsor, Ontario-Detro...
 was built beginning in the 1960s. Today, the road carries much local traffic, and provides an alternative to the busy Interstate Highway.

See also

  • Winchester and Martinsburg Turnpike, Winchester north to Martinsburg
    Martinsburg, West Virginia

    Martinsburg is a city in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia region of West Virginia, United States. The city's population was 14,972 at the 2000 United States Census; according to a 2007 Census Bureau estimate, Martinsburg's population was 16,450, making it the largest city in the Eastern Panhandle and the ninth largest municipality in We...
  • Junction Valley Turnpike, Staunton south to Buchanan
  • Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike, Staunton west to Parkersburg
    Parkersburg, West Virginia

    Parkersburg, located at the confluence of the Ohio River and Little Kanawha River Rivers, is the third largest city in the West Virginia. It is the county seat of Wood County, West Virginia and the largest city in the Parkersburg-Marietta, Ohio-Vienna, West Virginia Parkersburg-Marietta-Vienna metropolitan area....
     on the Ohio River
    Ohio River

    The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. It is approximately 981 miles long and is located in the eastern United States....