Where does the name, “Shenandoah” come from? Here is one legend that explains how the name came to mean “Daughter of the Stars.”
Before the first intrepid white settlers penetrated the mountain wall to discover the beautiful valley between the Blue Ridge and the Alleghenies, Native Americans fished and hunted and enjoyed the valley's bounty. An ancient legend describes the valley's creation.
After the Great Spirit made the world, the morning stars came together on the shores of a quiet silver lake bordered with blue mountains. It was the most beautiful place they could see. Hovering above the quiet waters and lighting the mountain tops with their robes of fire, the stars sang their songs of joy and pledged to gather there every thousand years.
Once, when the stars were singing, there came a mighty crashing sound. The mountain wall tore asunder. Through the deep opening, the waters of the lake began to pour out and rush to the sea.
As time passed, the stars looked all over the earth for another place to meet. They finally agreed upon a lovely valley through which a winding river ran.
Soon, the stars realized that this valley had been the bed of their beautiful lake and the blue mountains around it were the same ones they had lit with their robes of light in ages past.
The stars were so joyous they placed the brightest jewels from their crowns in the river where they still lie and sparkle. And ever since that day, the river and its valley have been called Shenandoah, Daughter of the Stars.
Modern scholars believe the name Shenandoah actually derives from three ancient Indian names: Senedo; Cenantua; and Sherando.
As European settlers moved into the valley, the recorded rumors circulating among the current tribes about an ancient primitive people known as Senedoes who had long since been conquered by the Iroquois.
The Shawnee name Cenantua referred to the mountain range now known as Masanutten. Sherando was a fierce Iroquois chief who fought off the advances of the Virginia coastal tribes and who camped frequently along the headwaters of the Shenadoah River's South Fork.
Story excerpt courtesy Heather Wilson. Used by permission.