Knobs Of The Holston River

River knobs on the south fork of the Holston river.

Today's picture features a nice view of some river knobs that are located just a few miles from beautiful Damascus, Virginia on the south fork of the Holston river. River knobs are typically a series of very steep hills and ridges separated by very long and deep draws called "hollows".

Many believe that the river knobs were formed by the receding waters of the great flood, and fossil evidence seems to support that belief - rocks with seashell fossils embedded in them have been found on top of the knobs in many areas. While there are certainly other plausible reasons for these seemingly out-of-place fossils, as a Christian I believe they were indeed placed there during the great flood.

The south fork river knobs of rural Washington County are every familiar to me. Most autumns of my teenage years were spent rambling all over the area's knobs in search of "Appalachian Mountain Gold", otherwise known as American Ginseng. I spent many hours scouring those hillsides and "hollers" looking for those distinctive red "seng" berries (pronounced sang berries), and a recent trip down South Fork River Road brought back those wonderful memories.

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