Tracing the Route from Germanna

From Germanna: Outpost of Adventure, 1714-1956 By John W. Wayland
Published by The Memorial Foundation of the Germanna Colonies in Virginia, Inc.
McClure Printing Company
Staunton, VA, 1956.

"On August 30, three miles westward from Expedition Run, they came to “Mine River.” This was the well-known Mine Run, which they reached and crossed in the vicinity of Burr Hill. Three miles farther on the same day they reached Mountain Run, and it is so designated on all the maps. Fontaine speaks of it as ‘at the foot of a small mountain.’ This was evidently Clark’s Mountain, a well-known landmark, south of Summerville Ford on the Rapidan and seven or eight miles northeast from Orange Courthouse."

"Continuing westward on August 31 from Mountain Run, they came upon and crossed, five miles from Mountain Run, ‘the upper part of Rappahanoc River.' By the scale of miles, they must have crossed the Rapidan about two miles above Summerville Ford, and north of Clark’s mountain. About five miles farther, Fontaine says, they crossed the same river again, and four miles farther, ‘we encamped upon Rappahanoc River."

"Here we cannot follow the route with certainty.... Five miles southwest from the crossing above Summerville Ford will strike the Rapidan at the mouth of Robinson River, and four miles will strike it near Madison Mills. But this is so far south of the general westward course that we can hardly accept it." (35)

"About five miles due west from the crossing above Summerville Ford would have taken them to the Robinson River, the north branch of the Rapidan; and four miles more, past Locust Dale, would have put them upon the Robinson River again for their camp, in the vicinity of Oak Park. This is rather far northwest, but seems more probable..."(35)

"On the second of September, they were floundering through the head streams of the Rapidan northeast of the site of Standardsville, and on the third they encamped ‘almost at the head of James River, just below the great mountains.’ On the 4th and 5th they followed the ‘James River’ to the top of the mountain. This stream is Swift Run, one of the numerous head streams of the James, which flows down the Rivanna past Charlottesville." (36)

"We can be certain that the crossing of the Blue Ridge was by way of Swift Run Gap. This is the only place in the world where the headwaters of the Rapidan and those of the James lie near together." (36)