A Visit to Frazier Mountain
submitted by Kevin Frazier fkf@webtv.net

In 1987, I was taking a course at James Madison University in historical research and decided to try and put together our family genealogy for a class project. I ended up traveling to most of the county record offices in central Virginia and the central Shenandoah Valley as well as spending four days in Richmond at the State Library. My father decided to help me with some oral interviews of relatives and his knowledge of the family history. We spent months trying to make a link between our family and Bacon's Rebellion which occurred in 1676. My dad's grandfather told him our family had fled after participating in this rebellion to the western frontier and ended up in Shifflett's Hollow in Greene County. We pulled out our maps and discovered a Bacon Hollow next to Shifflett's Hollow and you can guess the rest.

To date we do not know the origins of the name Bacon Hollow but we did find in our travelings Frazier Mountain and a real connection to our family origins. The experience of finding this mountain at the end of Shifflett's Hollow left us with a sense of real connection and a sense of the past which borders on being mystical, which I know many who trace their family roots must experience as well.

For years I have hiked the trails and camped in and around Shenandoah National Park, and since moving back into the Valley after serving in the Marine Corps and continuing my education, I was bound to continue these hikes. One of my favorite hikes had always been in the south district around Loft Mountain. Of course, we know now that the general area around Loft Mountain was called Lost Mountain and Frazier Mountain by the residents of Shifflett's Hollow. My father had been told, when he was a boy riding with his grandfather in their wagon past Shifflett's Hollow, that our family came from Frazier Mountain. I first heard this when I was doing my research and was a little intrigued to say the least. We really didn't know if this could be true or would become true for us until my dad and I decided to set out one cool, crisp autumn morning in 1987 to Shifflett's Hollow and hopefully a Frazier Mountain. Could we make a solid, clear connection to our past or would this adventure end like many before with more questions?

From talking to several locals and Shifflett's Hollow residents we found that if we traveled to the end of the road to Mission Home we might find a way to hike up the mountain. At Mission Home we were told to follow an old road up aways behind the buildings to Frazier Mountain. Dad and I set out up the steep road with our water bottles and blaze orange caps on and came to a posted sign for Frazier Mountain Hunt Club. Everything we read and heard from the locals was coming to fruition. We hiked a couple of miles or so and came to a hunting cabin and out came George Frazier to meet us. He said he owned part of the land and his family had lived here for generations but now just hunted up here. George didn't know if we were related but he did direct us to some old broken down log cabins. Dad and I were tired but we decided to go take a look.

About a half mile or so from the cabin at a fork in the road we found the cabin remains and a cemetery behind the lot. The area was surrounded by old fruit trees and vines and was generally level. The cemetery was triangular in shape and had about 50 slate head stones. Surrounded by brush, we found two modern looking and inscribed headstones. Jackson Frazier had been buried next to his wife Fannie, and Jackson's inscription read "Gone but not forgotten". I thought to myself that this was very prophetic indeed! Dad and I continue to research our ancestry when we have time. My father is not able to get around as well as he use to but we do plan on another trip to that mountain and to our past soon.


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This page is part of the Shiflet Family Genealogy Website and is maintained by:
Julia Crosswell / Fort Worth, TX / 1998 - 2006
Robert Klein / Pasadena, MD / 2008 - present