Site of James Burke's Garden
N 37° 06.279 W 081° 20.855
17S E 469115 N 4106538
Burke's Garden is one of the most beautiful places in Southwest Virginia and remains on of the most fertile farming community's in Virginia.
Waymark Code: WM1PF2
Location: Virginia, United States
Date Posted: 06/16/2007
Views: 75
Sometimes referred to as "God's Thumbprint" because of its view from the air, this mountain-ringed bowl is 10 miles in diameter and filled with some of the most fertile farmland in the state. The area, which is the highest mountain valley in Virginia, was designated a National and Virginia Rural Historical District. The community can be viewed from the Appalachian Trail or by car from state route 623. Visitors can buy baked goods and vegetables, bike on area roads, hike and hunt in nearby Jefferson National Forest. First discovered in the 1740's by James Burke while hunting in the area. The name "Burke's Garden" was given to the valley as a joke in 1748 after Burke planted potato peelings by the campfire of a 1748 surveying party. The next year, a fine crop of potatoes was found. For a view of Burke's Garden from above: (
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The text of the marker reads:
SITE OF JAMES BURKE GARDEN
"Burke’s Garden is named for James Burke who surveyed the region with James Patton by 1750. According to tradition, Burke buried some potato peelings in the region’s fertile soil during a survey expedition. Sometimes later another group camped at the same site and discovered the potatoes, resulting in the area becoming known as Burke’s Garden. Burke built a cabin nearby when hostilities began during the French and Indian War. Burkes Garden is a topographically rare elongated basin rimmed entirely by the Garden Mountain."