Virginia Department of Historic Resources Virginia Department of Historic Resources
For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF
VLR Listing Date 09/16/1982
NRHP Listing Date 12/13/1985
NRHP Reference Number 85003170
Rockshelters along streams provided handy protection and shelter for Indians for many centuries. Representing at least 3,000 years of periodic small-scale occupation, the Paine Run Rockshelter archaeological site in Augusta County provides local evidence of stylistic and technological evolution in prehistoric stone projectile points and ceramics preserved there. It and the other prehistoric sites identified by a University of Virginia archaeologist in a 1976 survey of this area of the Shenandoah National Park demonstrate that the region was most heavily populated during the Late Archaic-Early Woodland periods but was little used in Late Woodland times. The Paine Run Rockshelter site thus helps document that a major change in lifestyle occurred in the Blue Ridge before the coming of the Europeans.
Many properties listed in the registers are private dwellings and are not open to the public, however many are visible from the public right-of-way. Please be respectful of owner privacy.
Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
Updated: July 18, 2022
