Description

At 3,971 feet above sea level, Buffalo Mountain is the highest point in Floyd County. According to the Buffalo’s caretaker, the Department of Conservation and Recreation, “the combination of high elevation, wind exposed openings at the summit, and magnesium rich soils make Buffalo Mountain unlike any place else in the Commonwealth.” Sub-alpine, prairie, and other significant natural communities are part of the 1,000 acre preserve, and rare plant and animal species abound in the area.

After the Revolutionary War, Buffalo Mountain was part of a much larger tract of land known as Lee’s Order. It is believed that this tract was a grant made to General Richard Henry Lee by the United States government for his service in the Revolutionary War. It is certain that his youngest son, Charles Carter Lee, lived on the Buffalo Mountain property at one time. A Presbyterian preacher named Robert W Childress came to Buffalo Mountain in 1926. He grew up in Patrick County, and the story of him and the rock churches he helped build, is well known. This photograph, part of the Harris/Akers Collection, was taken in the vicinity of one of those rock churches, Buffalo Mountain Presbyterian Church.