FE and Felonies - The Story of Virginia's Fairy Stone State Park
FE and Felonies - The Story of Virginia's Fairy Stone State Park
By a.d. elliott | Take the Back Roads - Art and Other Odd Adventures
Right after we moved to Roanoke, Virginia, I discovered an exciting state park just about 30 minutes away: Fairy Stone State Park.
Its story begins around the time of the American Revolution, when General George Stovall Hairston Sr. started redeeming his Revolutionary War land grants and purchasing others. Among them was a small, iron-rich mountain known as Stuart’s Knob.
I will freely admit that I am not entirely sure who “Stuart” was. My suspicion, and it’s an educated one, is that the mountain was named for the Stuart family, whose most famous son, J.E.B. Stuart, would later become a well-known Confederate general. The family was rooted in this area, and Southern geography is nothing if not loyal to its surnames.
Iron mining didn’t truly ramp up until 1836, when Hairston’s sons, George II and John, formed the Union Iron Works Company. Unfortunately, Stuart’s Knob proved to be an exceptionally difficult place to run a mine. The terrain is steep, the area remote, and transporting equipment was arduous at best. Coal could not be brought in easily, so steam-powered tools had to be fired with wood, and much of the digging was done by hand. Even with the era's enslaved labor, turning a profit was nearly impossible.
John Hairston sold his stake to his brother not long after operations began, and in 1863, right in the middle of the Civil War, George II sold the mine to John Barksdale and Jonathan Stovall. Though both men were suspected Confederate agents, the mine never meaningfully supplied the Confederate war effort. As a result, it sat idle through the Civil War, Reconstruction, and well beyond.
In 1903, Barksdale and Stovall sold the land to Frank Ayer Hill and Herbert Dale and their wives. Mining resumed, and a town called Fayerdale was built at the base of Stuart’s Knob. A few years later, ownership shifted again, and the Virginia Ore and Lumber Company was formed.
Remember how I mentioned this was an expensive mine to operate? That hadn’t changed. The miners of the early 1900s expected to be paid, an inconvenient development, and it remained cheaper to ship iron from Germany than to extract it here. Lumber alone couldn’t sustain the town. When Virginia enacted Prohibition in 1915, the remote, hard-to-police community of Fayerdale pivoted to Appalachia’s favorite unofficial export: moonshine.
By 1925, most of the company’s partners had bowed out, leaving Julius Fishburn as the primary landholder. Bootlegging became the area’s main industry. Predictably, things eventually escalated. In 1928, a violent shootout, often described as an O.K. Corral-style gunfight, left several people dead. Federal authorities moved in soon after and dismantled the entire operation.
Then came the stock market crash of 1929, and what remained of the community collapsed. In 1933, Julius Fishburn donated the land to the State of Virginia. Using the newly formed Civilian Conservation Corps, the area was transformed into one of Virginia’s first six state parks. Philpott Dam was constructed on the Smith River, and the town of Fayerdale disappeared beneath what is now Philpott Lake.
Still, the iron in the mountain found another purpose.
The area surrounding Fairy Stone State Park is rich in a mineral called staurolite, an iron-aluminum silicate that often forms in cross-shaped crystals. These are the famous Fairy Stones. According to legend, and this sounds more like a story told by an old-timer to a captivated group of kids than a formal myth, but righty-ho, when news of Christ’s crucifixion reached the fairies of the Appalachian Mountains roughly 2,027 years ago, they wept staurolite, which fell to the ground in the shape of crosses.
Geology, of course, suggests otherwise. Every rock on that hill is significantly older than Christianity itself.
Still, the stones are remarkable. Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson reportedly carried Fairy Stones as good-luck charms, and I decided to tuck a few into the rosary pocket of my purse alongside prayer cards, medals, and the blessed fava beans I’ve picked up along the way. Staurolite has no industrial use today and is primarily used for jewelry and charms. While it’s abundant in this region, it’s rare worldwide, found in only a handful of places.
Fairy Stone State Park offers designated areas for stone gathering, several hiking trails, a beach at Philpott Lake, and both cabin rentals and tent sites. It should be noted that the park sees regular bear activity, so hike smart, stay alert, and for the love of all that is holy, do not keep Twinkies in your tent. There is a small $7 day-use parking fee.
Also, fair warning, the terrain is steep. I absolutely required trekking poles to navigate Stuart’s Knob and strongly recommend walking aids for anyone who even mildly questions their balance.
We had a wonderful time exploring the old mine areas and hunting for stones, though I will confess that the Fairy Stones I carry came from the gift shop. They come pre-found and pre-polished, and the park will even ship you stones of your own if you call them at (276) 930-2424.
Until our next adventure.
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About the Author
a.d. elliott is a wanderer, photographer, and storyteller traveling through life
She shares her journeys at Take the Back Roads, explores new reads at Rite of Fancy, and highlights U.S. military biographies at Everyday Patriot.
You can also browse her online photography gallery at shop.takethebackroads.com.
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