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Knights of the Golden Horseshoe

Rockingham County · 7 miles southeast of Elkton. · location approximate

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Here, it is believed, Governor Alexander Spotswood and his party crossed the mountains into the Shenandoah Valley, September 5, 1716. This expedition paved the way for the settlement of the West. On the return east, Spotswood gave his companions small golden horseshoes because their shoeless horses had to be shod for the mountain journey.

1948 text, presented as a historical document.

Many of these markers have since been replaced or their texts revised. The marker program and its current texts are maintained by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Virginia Department of Historic Resources ↗

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Marker data: Virginia Department of Conservation and Development, State Historical Markers of Virginia, 6th ed. (1948)

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