Beautiful stock certificate #29 from the Stony Man Mining Company issued in 1858. This historic document has an ornate border around it with a vignette of men working in a mine. This item is hand signed by the Company's President, Josiah Barker and Secretary, William Danforth and is over 162 years old.
Certificate Vignette Skyland is a comparatively recent but very appropriate name for the central point of one of the most interesting sections of the northern Virginia Blue Ridge, that between Thornton Gap and Fishers Gap. It is not surprising that the Indians thought these peaks, so often veiled in mist, were the abiding place of the Great Spirit. The Indians secured copper for their axes and ornaments from Stony Man; and during colonial days many attempts at mining were made. From 1850 to 1860 large sums were expended on prospecting and many companies organized for this purpose. Furnace Spring, near Skyland. provided the water used for mining operations on Stony Man. Traces can still be seen of the copper refuse and of the charcoal pits used in making charcoal for smelting the ore. The old shaft, 60 feet deep, filled up with water long ago. In Dark Hollow, below Fishers Gap, were the most extensive workings. Ore from this mine was taken over the mountain at Fishers Gap and down the switchback road to Stanley. One of the owners of the Stony Man Mining Company realized that it would be a wonderful recreation place and soon thereafter the "Blue Ridge Stony Man Park" came into being. The information above is from the July 1935 Edition of the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club Bulletin.