The Shenandoah River is the principal

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drai ...

of the

Potomac River The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augu ...

, long with two forks approximately long each,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
accessed August 15, 2011 in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

s of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

and

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the B ...

. The river and its tributaries drain the central and lower Shenandoah Valley and the

Page Valley The Page Valley is a small valley geographically and culturally associated with the Shenandoah Valley. The valley is located between the Massanutten and Blue Ridge mountain ranges in western Virginia. Geography The valley is approximately lo ...

in the

Appalachians The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. They ...

on the west side of the

Blue Ridge Mountains The Blue Ridge Mountains are a Physiographic regions of the world, physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains range. The mountain range is located in the Eastern United States, and extends 550 miles southwest from southern Pennsy ...

, in northwestern Virginia and the

Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia The Eastern Panhandle is the eastern of the two panhandles in the U.S. state of West Virginia; the other is the Northern Panhandle. It is a small stretch of territory in the northeast of the state, bordering Maryland and Virginia. Some sources ...

. There is a hydroelectric plant along the Shenandoah river constructed in 2014 by

Dominion The term ''Dominion'' is used to refer to one of several self-governing nations of the British Empire. "Dominion status" was first accorded to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland, South Africa, and the Irish Free State at the 192 ...

Course

The Shenandoah River is formed northeast of

Front Royal Front Royal is the only incorporated town in Warren County, Virginia, United States. The population was 15,011 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Warren County. History The entire Shenandoah Valley including the area to become ...

near Riverton, by the confluence of the South Fork and the North Fork. It flows northeast across

Warren County Warren County is the name of fourteen counties in the USA. Some are named after General Joseph Warren, who was killed in the Battle of Bunker Hill in the American Revolutionary War: * Warren County, Georgia * Warren County, Illinois * Warren County ...

, passing underneath

Interstate 66 Interstate 66 (I-66) is an east–west Interstate Highway in the eastern United States. It runs from an interchange with I-81 near Middletown, Virginia, on its western end to an interchange with U.S. Route 29 (US 29) in Washing ...

from its formation. Beyond the I-66 bridge the river flows through a set of bends before turning to the northeast again, crossing into Clarke County below I-66. Five miles (8 km) downriver from the Clarke County border, the Shenandoah passes under U.S. Route 50 and then passes through a triple bend. below the Route 50 bridge, the river passes underneath State Route 7 and then continues northeast another where it crosses into Jefferson County in West Virginia. Once in West Virginia the river completes six large bends before joining with the Potomac from the southwest near

Harpers Ferry Harpers Ferry is a historic town in Jefferson County, West Virginia. It is located in the lower Shenandoah Valley. The population was 285 at the 2020 census. Situated at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers, where the U.S. stat ...

. The confluence is on the West Virginia-Maryland border and from the Virginia-West Virginia border.

Geology

The Shenandoah Valley is underlaid by

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

. The fertile soil made it a favored place for early settlement. It continues to be a major agricultural area of Virginia and West Virginia. Some karst topography is evident, and the limestone is honeycombed with caves. Several have been developed as commercial tourist attractions, including

Luray Caverns Luray Caverns, originally called Luray Cave, is a cave just west of Luray, Virginia, United States, which has drawn many visitors since its discovery in 1878. The cavern system is generously adorned with speleothems such as columns, mud flows, s ...

, Shenandoah Caverns, and Skyline Caverns. On the riverbank a few miles above Harper's Ferry is said to be a cave with an opening just large enough for a mounted rider to squeeze through. It widened in the interior to a spacious room where hundreds of Col. John Mosby's raiding troops are said to have hidden from pursuing Union cavalry.

Environmental issues

Since 2005, the Shenandoah River has experienced several springtime fish kills that have affected several of its native fish species. In 2005,

redbreast sunfish The redbreast sunfish (''Lepomis auritus'') is a species of freshwater fish in the sunfish family (family Centrarchidae) of order Perciformes. The type species of its genus, it is native to the river systems of eastern Canada and the United Stat ...

and smallmouth bass along a stretch of the South Fork Shenandoah River began dying of lesions caused by bacteria and fungi. Although the fish kill eventually wiped out 80% of the adult redbreast sunfish and smallmouth bass, juvenile populations appeared to be unaffected. The following year more-localized fish kills in Clarke County spread to two of the Shenandoah's three species of sucker: the

shorthead redhorse The shorthead redhorse (''Moxostoma macrolepidotum'') is a wide-ranging species in North America. The shorthead redhorse is native to central and eastern North America. However, its range has expanded to include areas like the Hudson estuary and ...

and the

northern hogsucker The northern hogsucker (''Hypentelium nigricans'') is a freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the family Catostomidae, the suckers. It is native to the United States and Canada where it is found in streams and rivers. It prefers clear, fast-f ...

– the former suffering from similar lesions witnessed in the previous year's fish kill. Virginia's Department of Environmental Quality received reports of fish kills near Elkton and between Bentonville and Front Royal in late April 2007 and observed fish exhibiting lesions and strange behavior.

Etymology

Various accounts tell the origin of the name. According to one, General

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

named the valley (and river) in honor of Skenandoa (or Shenandoah), an Oneida "pine tree chief" based in New York, who led hundreds of Oneida and Tuscarora warriors in support of the American rebels on the frontier during the Revolutionary War. He also sent much needed corn to Washington and his troops during their hard winter at

Valley Forge, Pennsylvania The Village of Valley Forge is an unincorporated settlement located on the west side of Valley Forge National Historical Park at the confluence of Valley Creek and the Schuylkill River in Pennsylvania. The remaining village is in Schuylkill Tow ...

in 1777–1778. However, the name was in use when Washington was a child, as evidenced in land grants and correspondence.http://image.lva.virginia.gov/LONN/LO-1/018/018_0109.tif It is also said to be named after the

Senedo people The Senedo were a Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribe who inhabited an area along the north fork of the Shenandoah River in what is present-day northern Virginia. They may have been an Iroquoian Peoples, Iroquoian tribe; mos ...

, a little-documented tribe said to have lived on the north fork of the river and destroyed by the

Catawba Catawba may refer to: *Catawba people, a Native American tribe in the Carolinas *Catawba language, a language in the Catawban languages family *Catawban languages Botany *Catalpa, a genus of trees, based on the name used by the Catawba and other N ...

, some time between 1650 and 1700.

Recreation

The Shenandoah River is a very popular river for canoeing, river tubing, and white-water recreation such as

rafting Rafting and whitewater rafting are recreational outdoor activities which use an inflatable raft to navigate a river or other body of water. This is often done on whitewater or different degrees of rough water. Dealing with risk is often a ...

and kayaking (class I-III in season, II-III+ during the spring run-off), and several commercial outfitters offer a variety of guided trips and rentals.

South Fork Shenandoah River

The South Fork is formed at Port Republic in southern Rockingham County, by the confluence of the North River and South River. It flows northeast in a tight

meander A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank ( cut bank) and deposits sediments on an inner, convex ba ...

ing course, past Elkton and Shenandoah, through Page Valley, with the Blue Ridge Mountains to the east and the

Massanutten Mountain Massanutten Mountain is a synclinal ridge in the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, located in the U.S. state of Virginia. It is near the West Virginia state line. Geography The mountain bisects the Shenandoah Valley just east of Strasburg ...

range to the west.

South Fork tributaries

* North River ** Middle River * South River ** Back Creek * Overall Run * Gooney Creek

Bridges over the South Fork

North Fork Shenandoah River

The North Fork is long and rises in northern Rockingham County, along the eastern flank of

Shenandoah Mountain Shenandoah Mountain is a mountain ridge approximately long in Virginia and West Virginia. The steep, narrow, sandstone-capped ridge extends from northern Bath County, Virginia to southern Hardy County, West Virginia. Along the way, its crest def ...

in the

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

. At its formation, the principal feeder on the North Fork is the German River. The North Fork flows initially southeast, down from the mountains, then northeast through a valley across Shenandoah County, along the western side of

. It flows past

Woodstock Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock. Billed as "an Aq ...

and Strasburg. On the north end of the ridge it turns briefly southeast to join the South Fork from the northwest to form the Shenandoah.

North Fork tributaries

Bridges over the North Fork

Shenandoah tributaries

West Virginia

*Hog Run * Long Marsh Run *

Bullskin Run Bullskin Run is a stream in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Bullskin Run probably derives its name from the buffaloes which once roamed the area. See also *List of rivers of West Virginia This is a list of rivers in the U.S. state of West Virgi ...

*Evitts Run *Forge Run *Cattail Run *Flowing Springs Run *Stikeys Run *Double Run

Virginia

*Happy Creek *Manassas Run *Venus Branch *Long Branch *Spout Run *Morgan Mill Stream *Chapel Run *Lewis Run *Craig Run *Dog Run *Spout Run *Wheat Spring Run *Passage Creek

In culture

The American folk song and sea chantey titled "

Oh Shenandoah "Oh Shenandoah" (also called "Shenandoah", "Across the Wide Missouri", "Rolling River", "Oh, My Rolling River", "World of Misery''") is a traditional folk song, sung in the Americas, of uncertain origin, dating to the early 19th century. T ...

" has been adapted to explicitly reference the river or river valley, although earlier versions referred to the 18th century Oneida Chief Shenandoah and the Missouri River, 1,000 miles to the west. The 1971 hit and signature song of John Denver, "

Take Me Home, Country Roads "Take Me Home, Country Roads", also known simply as "Country Roads", is a song written by Bill Danoff, Taffy Nivert and John Denver about West Virginia. It was released as a single performed by Denver on April 12, 1971, peaking at number two ...

", prominently mentions the Shenandoah River, and was adopted by the state of

in 2014 as its fourth official state song. An episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, continuing the tradition of naming their shuttles after rivers, has a shuttle named Shenandoah.

References

External links

Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries - South Fork

Friends of the North Fork Shenandoah River

Shenandoah Riverkeeper
{{authority control Rivers of Virginia Rivers of West Virginia Rivers of Page County, Virginia Rivers of Rockingham County, Virginia Rivers of Warren County, Virginia Rivers of Shenandoah County, Virginia Rivers of Jefferson County, West Virginia Rivers of Clarke County, Virginia Tributaries of the Potomac River