| Pleasant Valley | |
|---|---|
 Pleasant Valley as seen from Short Hill Mountain with the Potomac River in the foreground | |
| Floor elevation | 600 ft (180 m) |
| Length | 10 miles (16 km)North-South |
| Width | 2 miles (3.2 km) |
| Geography | |
| Location | Washington County, Maryland |
| Population centers | Rohrersville |
| Borders on | South Mountain (east) Elk Ridge (west) Potomac River (south) Israel Creek (north) |
| Traversed by | U.S. Route 340 Maryland Route 67 |
Pleasant Valley is a small valley in Washington County, Maryland, United States.
The valley is bound by South Mountain to the east, Elk Ridge to the west and the Potomac River to the south. To the north the valley opens up to connect with the Hagerstown Valley near Boonsboro. The northern definition of Pleasant Valley is the watershed divide between the Israel Creek and the Little Antietam Creek, both tributaries of the Potomac River.
This northern watershed boundary lies to the north of the little town of Gapland (on Israel Creek) and to the south of Rohrersville (a town in the Little Antietam Creek drainage area). Geographically the valley is an extension of the Between the Hills valley south of the Potomac in Virginia. The Short Hill fault, which separates Elk Ridge from South Mountain runs along the east edge of Pleasant Valley, along the west flank of South Mountain.
The eastern side of Pleasant Valley, on the slope of South Mountain is the location of William Park's "Park Hall." Surveyed in 1731 it was the first land tract (legally) patented by a Euromerican in what would eventually become Washington County. [1] Pleasant Valley is on the east side of Elk Ridge mountain. On the opposite (west side) of Elk Ridge is the historic Kennedy farm where John Brown and his followers stayed prior to their raid on nearby Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. A handful of John Brown's men escaped from the Federal soldiers after the raid was defeated, and the escape route that these men took went north to Pennsylvania following Elk Ridge and South Mountain. The escaping raiders crossed from Elk Ridge mountain to South Mountain in the area around Rohrersville, to the north of Pleasant Valley. Nestled at the foot of Elk Ridge on the west side of the lower valley is the community of Yarrowsburg, named for early (1830s) free African-American residents Aquilla and Polly Yarrow. [2]
During the Antietam Campaign of the American Civil War, Pleasant Valley was the site of a Confederate picket line, intended to prevent General George B. McClellan's Union Army from coming to the rescue of the Union garrison in Harpers Ferry. Later, after the Battle of Antietam, the farmland of Pleasant Valley was filled with tents of soldiers from the Union Army—Pleasant Valley was a designated bivouac for rest and recovery after the battle.
The Potomac River is found within the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and flows from the Potomac Highlands into the Chesapeake Bay. The river is approximately 405 miles (652 km) long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles (38,000 km2). In terms of area, this makes the Potomac River the fourth largest river along the Atlantic coast of the United States and the 21st largest in the United States. Over 5 million people live within the Potomac watershed.
The Battle of Harpers Ferry was fought September 12–15, 1862, as part of the Maryland Campaign of the American Civil War. As Gen. Robert E. Lee's Confederate army invaded Maryland, a portion of his army under Maj. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson surrounded, bombarded, and captured the Union garrison at Harpers Ferry, Virginia.
The Shenandoah River is a tributary of the Potomac River, 55.6 miles (89.5 km) long with two forks approximately 100 miles (160 km) long each, in the U.S. states of Virginia and West Virginia. The principal tributary of the Potomac, the river and its tributaries drain the central and lower Shenandoah Valley and the Page Valley in the Appalachians on the west side of the Blue Ridge Mountains, in northwestern Virginia and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia.
Conococheague Creek, a tributary of the Potomac River, is a free-flowing stream that originates in Pennsylvania and empties into the Potomac River near Williamsport, Maryland. It is 80 miles (129 km) in length, with 57 miles (92 km) in Pennsylvania and 23 miles (37 km) in Maryland. The watershed of Conococheague Creek has an area of approximately 566 square miles (1,470 km2), out of which only 65 square miles (170 km2) are in Maryland.
The Maryland campaign—or Antietam campaign—occurred September 4–20, 1862, during the American Civil War. Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's first invasion of the North was repulsed by the Army of the Potomac under Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, who moved to intercept Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia and eventually attacked it near Sharpsburg, Maryland. The resulting Battle of Antietam was the bloodiest single-day battle in American history.
Antietam Creek is a 41.7-mile-long (67.1 km) tributary of the Potomac River located in south central Pennsylvania and western Maryland in the United States, a region known as the Hagerstown Valley. The creek became famous as a focal point of the Battle of Antietam during the American Civil War.
Blue Ridge Mountain, also known as Blue Mountain, is the colloquial name of the westernmost ridge of the Blue Ridge Mountains in northern Virginia and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. The Appalachian Trail traverses the entire length of the mountain along its western slope and crest.
Pine Creek is an 18.4-mile-long (29.6 km) tributary of Penns Creek in central Pennsylvania in the United States. Via Penns Creek, it is part of the Susquehanna River watershed.
Between the Hills is a small valley in northwest Loudoun County, Virginia, distinct from, but associated with, the greater Loudoun Valley.
Loudoun County in the Civil War —Loudoun County, Virginia, was destined to be an area of significant military activity during the American Civil War. Located on Virginia's northern frontier, the Potomac River, Loudoun County became a borderland after Virginia's secession from the Union in early 1861. Loudoun County's numerous Potomac bridges, ferries and fords made it an ideal location for the Union and Confederate armies to cross into and out of Virginia. Likewise, the county's several gaps in the Blue Ridge Mountains that connected the Piedmont to the Shenandoah Valley and Winchester were of considerable strategic importance. The opposing armies would traverse the county several times throughout the war leading to several small battles, most notably the Battle of Balls Bluff.
Weverton is an unincorporated community hamlet located in the southern tip of Washington County, Maryland, United States, near the north shore of the Potomac River. Its population is approximately 500. Weverton is located at the intersection of MD Route 67 and U.S. Route 340. The nearest incorporated communities are Harpers Ferry, West Virginia and Brunswick,. Weverton's approximate elevation is 475 feet (145 m) above sea level.
The Battle of Unison or Battle of Union refers to a series of American Civil War cavalry skirmishes in Loudoun County, Virginia, between October 31 – November 2, 1862, between the Confederate forces of J.E.B. Stuart and various units of the Union Army of the Potomac. Although driven from the field in individual engagements, Stuart accomplished his mission to delay the enemy and screen the movements of the retreating Army of Northern Virginia.
Maryland Route 67 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known as Rohrersville Road, the state highway runs 12.20 miles (19.63 km) from U.S. Route 340 in Weverton north to US 40 Alternate in Boonsboro. MD 67 parallels the western flank of South Mountain in southeastern Washington County, connecting Boonsboro with Weverton and Rohrersville. In conjunction with US 340 and US 40 Alternate, MD 67 connects Hagerstown and Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, a link that made the highway one of the original state roads marked for improvement in 1909. The first section of the state highway was constructed through Rohrersville around 1920. The remainder of the highway was built between Boonsboro and Weverton in the late 1920s and early 1930s. MD 67 was reconstructed with multiple relocations starting in the late 1950s, culminating in a relocation at the southern terminus to tie into the US 340 freeway in the late 1960s.
Elk Ridge, or Elk Mountain, is a mountain ridge of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Maryland and is the westernmost of four parallel ridges. It forms the western side of a narrow valley in which are situated the towns of Yarrowsburg and Brownsville. South Mountain is on the eastern side of this valley running roughly parallel to it. The ridge runs from Rohrersville, in the north, to the Potomac River across from Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, in the south. Across the Potomac the ridge continues as Blue Ridge Mountain in Virginia and West Virginia. To the west of Elk Mountain is the broader Cumberland Valley, in which lie the towns of Hagerstown and Chambersburg, and the Potomac River. The southern end of the ridge, which is part of Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, is known as Maryland Heights.
The Potomac Water Gap is a double water gap in the Blue Ridge Mountains, located at the intersection of the states of Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland, near Harpers Ferry. At 256 feet (78 m), it is the lowest crossing of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Brownsville is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Washington County, Maryland, United States, near Gapland in an area known as Pleasant Valley. Its population was 89 as of the 2010 census.
Hagerstown Valley is located in Maryland in the United States. It is part of the Great Appalachian Valley, which continues northward as Cumberland Valley in Pennsylvania, and southward as Shenandoah Valley in West Virginia and Virginia.
Coordinates: 39°38′20″N77°32′50″W / 39.63889°N 77.54722°W
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