Peter's Mountain Roar

This mountain above us is known as Peter's Mountain, named for Peter Wright, who settled in this area in 1776. At this point it rises over 3200 feet above sea level. The state line between Virginia and West Virginia lies on top or near the ridge except where it dips into the valley to include Waiteville, West Virginia.

Peter's Mountain is known, not only locally, but throughout the world by meteorologists as the producer of one of "Natures Greatest Noises". Usually, in the spring, when conditions are right, a great roaring wind is heard, described by one as "a tremendous thundering roar of giant waves breaking over rocky reefs."

In meteorological circles, it is known as a unique phenomenon with worldwide prominence, occurring in only one other place in the world -- on the island of Penang, off the Malay Peninsula.

A native son of Gap Mills, Dr. W. J. Humphreys, born in 1862, a noted meteorologist, physicist, professor, and author of numerous publications on natural phenomena, made an extensive study of the Gap Mills wind. He described it as originating in the Atlantic Ocean and traveling unabated across Virginia until striking Peter's Mountain, when it spills over the ridge causing the roar. Local residents have observed, here in the fields below, ocean gulls and wild geese which have been carried along the mighty current of air and, being exhausted and confused after topping the mountain, have come to rest.

George Flouer - Union, West Virginia