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To many people, Old Faithful is the well-known geyser of Yellowstone National Park, projecting a jet of hot water into the air every six minutes. But midway up the mountain toward Virginia’s Skyline Drive, Rappahannock’s own Old Faithful is more important, more interesting and by far a more valuable resource than any periodic display of our western national park. Shenandoah National Park’s Old Faithful is a never-failing gushing artesian spring that pours out its invigorating treasure with utter extravagance. Lacking any glitter of the spectacular, its charm lies in the steady dependable supply of crystal clear water—symbolic evidence of God’s generosity to mankind. Legend has masked all attempts to discover the source, as if the simple gushing supply were sufficient evidence of good will.
Pure, sparkling and refrigerated to 46-48 degrees in nature’s own secret depths, it flows from native rock through three man-inserted pipes into an arched basin. Even in a dry season the center pipe will fill a gallon jug in 20-25 seconds. In an era and area of periodic water scarcity where municipalities curtail the free use of water and where diners must request water with their meal, consider the amazing excess of the Old Faithful’s run. The mathematician resorts to his computer, duly impressed with the 3 gallons per minute equal to 180 gallons per hour or 4320 gallons per day just from the center duct, with two others uncalculated.
Fancy lends color to the picture of long ago, when weary teams of mules or horses refreshed themselves for the last long pull through Thornton’s Gap and on to the new frontier beyond. Today, the old water trough is gone but the flow continues unrestricted, a gift to every thristy wayfarer—an oasis endowed and registered by the Almighty Himself.
Unsung by the travel agencies of Virginia and unnoted by the Old Dominion Chamber of Commer, nevertheless the site is well-known to thousands. To the residents of nearby Sperryville, it is the source of drinking water while to the
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