# Valley Pike > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Valley_Pike > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Valley_Pike.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_Pike > Source revision: 1347833881 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) U.S. Route 11 **Valley Pike** or **Valley Turnpike** is the traditional name given for the Indian trail and roadway which is now approximated by [U.S. Route 11](/source/U.S._Route_11_in_Virginia) in the [Shenandoah Valley](/source/Shenandoah_Valley) of [Virginia](/source/Virginia).[1] Long before the arrival of English colonists, [Native Americans](/source/Native_American_(U.S.)) of the [Delaware](/source/Delaware_(tribe)) and [Catawba](/source/Catawba_(tribe)) tribes used this well-watered path as a migratory route and hunting grounds, moving between what is now [Georgia](/source/Georgia_(U.S._state)) and [Canada](/source/Canada). Beginning in the 1730s, [Scots-Irish](/source/Scots-Irish_American) and [German](/source/Germany) immigrants coming from [Pennsylvania](/source/Pennsylvania) began to move up the valley and establish settlements (“Up the Valley” in this context refers to movement to higher elevation and indicates a southward direction). As a result of the [Treaty of Lancaster](/source/Treaty_of_Lancaster), the [Iroquois](/source/Iroquois) were promised a marked path up the Valley which was laid out in 1745 by [James Patton](/source/James_Patton_(Virginia_colonist)) and [John Buchanan](/source/John_Buchanan_(Virginia_colonist)). Initially called the "Indian Road", it was later known as the "[Great Wagon Road](/source/Great_Wagon_Road)." A drawing titled "the escape of Stonewall Jackson's Army down the valley pike at Strausburg [sic], Va." *U.S. Library of Congress Collection* On March 3, 1834, The Valley Turnpike Company was incorporated by an act of the [Virginia General Assembly](/source/Virginia_General_Assembly), and the state participated in the public-private venture through the [Virginia Board of Public Works](/source/Virginia_Board_of_Public_Works) with a 40% investment to build 68 miles (109 km) between [Winchester](/source/Winchester%2C_Virginia) and [Harrisonburg](/source/Harrisonburg%2C_Virginia). A similar road from Harrisonburg to [Staunton](/source/Staunton%2C_Virginia) was built by another company, and they merged. The new combined road, by then known as the "Valley Pike", was significantly improved and [tolls](/source/Toll_road) were charged for the upkeep of its 93-mile (150 km) length. An official report made by General [P. H. Sheridan](/source/P._H._Sheridan) published in July 1866 described the Valley Pike as follows: "The city of Martinsburg,... is on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, at the northern terminus of the Valley pike--a broad [macadamized](/source/Macadamized) road, running up the valley, through Winchester, and terminating at Staunton."[2] Valley Turnpike, 1897 During the [American Civil War](/source/American_Civil_War), the Valley Pike was a key transportation link in both [Jackson's Valley Campaign](/source/Jackson's_Valley_Campaign) of 1862 and the [Valley Campaigns of 1864](/source/Valley_Campaigns_of_1864). The macadamized road enabled fast movement of heavy wagon trains and gun carriages even during rainy weather, when dirt roads turned into mud. [Confederate](/source/Confederate_States_of_America) General [Stonewall Jackson](/source/Stonewall_Jackson) marched his infantry soldiers—nicknamed [foot cavalry](/source/Foot_cavalry)—up and down the Valley and through various mountain gaps, such as [Swift Run Gap](/source/Swift_Run_Gap) and [Thornton Gap](/source/Thornton_Gap), and make sudden appearances in front of [Union](/source/Union_(American_Civil_War)) troops in the Piedmont region on the east side of the [Blue Ridge Mountains](/source/Blue_Ridge_Mountains). In 1918, The Valley Turnpike Company, which had been managed by a young [Harry Flood Byrd](/source/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](/source/State_Route_3_(Virginia_pre-1923)), one of the routes of the state highway system managed by the [State Highway Commission](/source/State_Highway_Commission_(Virginia)). The Valley Turnpike was given the [U.S. Route 11](/source/U.S._Route_11_(Virginia)) designation in 1926, and remained the major north–south highway thoroughfare for the Shenandoah Valley until [Interstate 81](/source/Interstate_81) was built beginning in the 1960s. Today, the road carries much local traffic, and provides an alternative to the busy [Interstate Highway](/source/Interstate_Highway). A section of the original Valley Pike runs parallel to U.S. Route 11 in Rockbridge County, 1 mile north of Lexington. ## See also - [Winchester and Martinsburg Turnpike](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Winchester_and_Martinsburg_Turnpike&action=edit&redlink=1), Winchester north to [Martinsburg](/source/Martinsburg%2C_West_Virginia) - [Junction Valley Turnpike](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Junction_Valley_Turnpike&action=edit&redlink=1), Staunton south to [Buchanan](/source/Buchanan%2C_VA) - [Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike](/source/Staunton-Parkersburg_Turnpike), Staunton west to [Parkersburg](/source/Parkersburg%2C_West_Virginia) on the [Ohio River](/source/Ohio_River) ## References - [Winchester Star Millennium Legacy article "The Road Most Traveled Drove Economy, Heritage" January 1, 2000](https://web.archive.org/web/20051111054212/http://www.winchesterstar.com/TheWinchesterStar/Millennium%20Edition/Millennium%20Legacy/driving_pike.asp) - [Virginia Highways Project website](http://www.vahighways.com/route-log/us011.htm) - [Roads to the Future](http://www.roadstothefuture.com/) Scott Kozel's detailed Highway and Transportation History website with lots of information and maps of Virginia's highway system - [The Valley Turnpike](http://www.vagenweb.org/shenandoah/cem/turnpike.html) an historical article by Don Silvius - [Virginia Places website](http://www.virginiaplaces.org/transportation/valleypike.html) about Virginia's Geography ## Notes 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["The Valley Turnpike Company"](https://web.archive.org/web/20150621152014/http://www.nps.gov/cebe/learn/historyculture/the-valley-turnpike-company.htm). U.S. National Park Service. Archived from [the original](https://www.nps.gov/cebe/learn/historyculture/the-valley-turnpike-company.htm) on June 21, 2015. Retrieved September 14, 2017. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** [*Operations Of The Army Of The Shenandoah From August 4, 1864, To February 27, 1865*](https://books.google.com/books?id=7KNMAAAAYAAJ&dq=shenandoah+valley+pike+macadamized+road&pg=PA760). The United States Army and Navy Journal, Volume III, 1865-1866, p760. --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Valley Pike](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_Pike) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_Pike?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.