The Height of Our Mountains: Nature Writing from Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains and Shenandoah Valley

A beautiful collection of writings about Virginia. A terrific read. There is something for everyone in this book.

This is a great book for anyone who is interested in the natural and human history of the Blue Ridge and Shenandoah Valley region. It contains over 70 essays from authors such as John Smith, Thomas Jefferson, John James Audubon to Edwin Way Teale and Annie Dillard, spanning nearly 400 years. The book has a highly informative, if somewhat didactic, introduction (which itself can be read as a brief history of the nature, culture and literature of the region) and many fantastic maps and illustrations. Preceding each essay is a short description of the author and the source of the selection (which I like very much), and there is also a thoroughly researched and meticulously organized bibliographical essay. One can bring it along on a hiking trip in the Blue Ridge and read a few essays on a sunny meadow or a rocky summit, or use it as a portal to the rich literature about this region.

The book's title is a quote from Thomas Jefferson, "The height of our mountains has not yet been estimated . . .". Jefferson's essay is among the 70 reprinted here, from 1612 to 1948. This historical material is fun to read and is a great resource for children and others studying Virginia's history and geography.