1939 Map of Plum Grove

About this map

Robinette Valley and Stanley Valley define the rhythmic topography of the Tennessee-Virginia borderlands in this 1939 survey. The landscape is characterized by a dense network of mountain ridges and narrow fertile valleys, where the Clinch River snakes along the northern edge and the Holston River touches the southeast corner near New Canton. This era reveals a deeply rooted rural infrastructure of one-room schoolhouses and community churches, such as Vale Summit Sch and Amis Chapel, which served the isolated farming settlements between Poor Valley Mountain and Copper Ridge. Transportation during this period relied on the Southern railroad line and the Lee Highway, which provided critical connections through Plum Grove Gap. Notable landmarks like Chalybeate Springs suggest the local importance of natural mineral waters in the early 20th-century Appalachian economy.