The Priest
The Priest rises to 1,227 m in Virginia. Maintop Mountain stands 1,232 m to the west-northwest, 3.3 miles off. The nearest named place is Little Priest, a peak 1.3 miles away. Blue Ridge Parkway passes 5.0 miles off.
The story
The Priest (DePriest) is a mountain in Nelson County, Virginia. The peak of the mountain is the highest point in the county. The mountain is on a spur off the main Blue Ridge Mountains, about 3.5 miles (5.5 km) east of Maintop Mountain, located in the Priest Wilderness of the George Washington National Forest. In 1754, John DePriest along with brothers Langsdon and Randolph DePriest, fought in the French and Indian War with George Washington, and throughout the American Revolution. In 1780, Thomas Jefferson granted 10,000 acres in Nelson County to John DePriest for his service to Virginia. The DePriest Mountain and Little DePriest mountain were included within the land grant. The Priest stands within the watershed of the Tye River, which drains into the James River. The north side of The Priest drains into Coxs Creek, thence into the Tye River. The south side of The Priest drains into Rocky Run, thence into the Tye. The west side of The Priest drains into Shoe Creek, thence into the Piney River and the Tye River. The Appalachian Trail, a 2,193-mile (3,529.29-km) National Scenic Trail from Georgia to Maine, runs across the summit of The Priest. The summit is reachable via the Appalachian Trail from a trail head along Virginia State Route 56. The hike gains 3000 vertical feet from base to summit. Crabtree Falls flows down the Priest's northwest slope. The Crabtree Falls trail and Forest Development Road 826 can be used for access to the Appalachian Trail and the Priest's summit.
From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Wikidata Q7758194, referenced by the OpenStreetMap record.
What the record says
- Elevation
- 1227 m
How to reach it
- 5.0 mi off the Blue Ridge Parkway, National
- 18.4 mi off the Skyline Drive, National
- 29.2 mi off the Highlands Scenic Byway
Overlooks nearby
- The Priest Overlook · 5 mi
- The Slacks Overlook · 6 mi
- Fork Mountain Overlook · 6 mi
- Yankee Horse Ridge Overlook · 6 mi
Named places within 25 miles
- Little Priest: 1.3 mi
- Spy Rock: 3.2 mi
- Maintop Mountain: 3.3 mi
- Fork Mountain: 3.9 mi
- The Friar: 4.2 mi
- Tye River Memorial Park: 4.5 mi
- Schneider Community Park: 14.3 mi
- Brownsburg Historic District: 15.9 mi
- Laurel Park: 16.4 mi
- Penny Park: 16.9 mi
- Otto Cline Powell monument: 19.0 mi
- Colonel Claudius Crozet: 20.4 mi
- Johnathan Daniels: 20.4 mi
- VMI World War II Memorial: 20.4 mi
- VMI World War II Memorial: 20.4 mi
- Rockfish Valley Foundation Natural History Center: 10.0 mi
- Virginia Distillery Museum: 11.2 mi
- Amherst County Historical Museum: 16.1 mi
- Monacan Ancestral Museum: 17.4 mi
- Saint Paul's Mission School: 17.4 mi
- Rock Spring: 4.4 mi
- Lovingston Springs: 6.1 mi
- Hog Camp Gap Spring: 8.1 mi
- Wiggins Spring: 8.7 mi
- Hickory Spring: 8.9 mi
- Knight Statue: 16.7 mi
- Peristyle: 16.7 mi
- George Washington: 20.4 mi
- The Cannonball: 20.5 mi
- George C. Marshall: 20.5 mi
- Mt. Pleasant Roadless Area: 8.7 mi
- Fortune's Cove Preserve: 9.4 mi
- Sugarloaf Mountain / Rockfish / Shields Gap: 9.6 mi
- Carry Nature Sanctuary: 18.3 mi
- Betsy Bell and Mary Gray Wilderness Parks: 21.9 mi
- Crabtree Falls: 2.4 mi
- Yankee Horse Ridge: 6.4 mi
- Virginia Distillery Co. Distillery Tour & Tasting: 11.2 mi
- Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson: 21.1 mi
- Gypsy Hill Express Train: 23.5 mi
- White Rock Falls: 5.7 mi
- St. Mary's Falls: 8.0 mi
- Upper Shamokin Falls: 10.7 mi
- Panther Falls: 14.6 mi
- Anne Lee Bennett Memorial Garden: 22.6 mi
- Mevluda Tahirovic Memorial Garden: 22.7 mi
- Greenhouse Area: 23.5 mi
- Twenty Minute Cliff: 5.4 mi
- Lovers Leap: 19.3 mi
- Humpback Rocks Picnic Area: 11.6 mi
- Nelson County Wayside: 13.6 mi
- Lake Monocan Beach: 12.0 mi
- Chris Lantos Waterfront: 23.5 mi
- Fairfield Safety Rest Area: 14.0 mi
Other summits around it
The highest named summits within 9.1 miles of The Priest. Elevation from each summit’s own record; bearing measured between the two coordinates.
| Summit | Bearing | Elevation | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maintop Mountain | WNW 283° | 1,232 m | 3.3 mi |
| Pompey Peak | SW 231° | 1,229 m | 7.3 mi |
| Elk Pond Mountain | W 265° | 1,226 m | 5.6 mi |
| Mount Pleasant | SW 227° | 1,223 m | 8.1 mi |
| Three Ridges | ENE 58° | 1,210 m | 5.0 mi |
| Cole Mountain | WSW 239° | 1,197 m | 9.1 mi |
| Potatopatch Mountain | NE 41° | 1,172 m | 8.9 mi |
| Devils Knob | NE 41° | 1,172 m | 8.9 mi |
When to go
Light through the year
| Date | Sunrise | Golden hour | Sunset |
|---|---|---|---|
| March equinox | 07:21 | 18:54 | 19:28 |
| June solstice | 05:55 | 20:03 | 20:42 |
| September equinox | 07:05 | 18:40 | 19:15 |
| December solstice | 07:29 | 16:20 | 17:01 |
Local time (America/New_York).
Climate normals
Months averaging 50–80 °F: May–Oct.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avg °F | 30 | 32 | 39 | 50 | 58 | 68 | 72 | 69 | 63 | 52 | 41 | 34 |
1991–2020 U.S. Climate Normals, NOAA NCEI — Montebello Fish Cultural STN, 4 mi away.
Where this comes from
Location and category confirmed against OpenStreetMap.
OpenStreetMapWikidata- USGS Geographic Names Information System feature 1487847 — The Priest, Nelson County, Virginia.
OpenStreetMap element node/356575190
Day trips start here
- Lynchburg · 28 mi
Take the scenic way to The Priest.
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