This creative non-fiction book takes the reader on a 70-mile tour of an historic area just west of the Shenandoah Valley, an area straddling the border between Virginia and West Virginia. The author, assuming the role of tour guide, recounts many stories about local people and places based on his years of observations, conversations with area folks, and extensive research. The tour takes place in an historic area where George Washington did much of his early surveying, an area encompassing towns, villages, numerous youth camps and retreats, exclusive mountain spring resorts, areas on the National register of Historic Places, a portion of the George Washington National Forest, and several award-winning farms. One can easily recognize the book's purpose from its cover. A map on the front shows the tour area with arrows indicating the tour's route and the book's organization. A map on the back shows the tour area's location and size in relation to Washington D.C. The 320-page book has over 600 photographs (many in plates) including 26 annotated aerial photos, 20 new maps by the author, many drawings and charts, footnotes, an extensive bibliography, and a nine-page index to assist the reader.