A Little Bit of History

Bent Mountain

How Bent Mountain got its name is a matter of debate.  One theory holds the name came from two brothers, James and William Bent, surveyors from Pennsylvania who mapped land here before heading west.  Others believe the name comes from Bent’s peculiar shape.  From the air, it appears bent in the shape of a horseshoe.

 

 

The Mountain’s elevation is 3,202 feet above sea level.  It sits roughly 2,400 vertical feet above Roanoke.  Poor Mountain, just west of Bent, is higher. But not much else around Roanoke is!

Four hunters who visited what we now know as the Roanoke Valley settled Bent Mountain in the mid-1700s.  They were so impressed with the area they packed up their families in Pennsylvania and returned here around 1740.

 

Bent’s fertile soil was well suited to farming.  Its orchards produced sweet apples and the cabbage grows big up there.  The orchards are still producing pippins and, you can still buy the cabbage as well as other locally grown fruits and vegetables atop the mountain or at stalls in the Roanoke City Market.