The following is from the "For the Tourist" section of a Shenandoah Chamber of Commerce brochure, probably printed in the late 1970's:

"Since they possess a number of specific attributes that render them distinctive and unusual, there are many points of interest in the Shenandoah area that have appeal to the tourist. The most striking of such features are the sphere-capped spires of the Catholic, Protestant, and Greek Churches that tower over the community, lending an almost foreign air. Interesting, also, are the large number of abandoned stripping operations, resulting in the mining landscape and featuring the barren and jumbled terrain, bizarre and grotesque, but, nevertheless, mesmeric in quality. Spoil banks and rock banks from coal preparation plants present the most awe-inspiring example of earth manipulation ever produced by man."