Since Europeans first settled along the banks of Back Creek in the
1740s, southwest Roanoke County's history has been as fluid as the creek
itself. Local historian Nelson Harris details the eclectic history of
the area.
The once dense forest with log cabins gave way to the sprawling suburbs
of the present. The colonial-era Trader's Path that directed Scots-Irish
homesteaders, the growth of the apple industry in Bent Mountain after
the Civil War, a state highway built by convicts during the Depression
and Cave Spring becoming a modern commercial center have shaped the
region. The changing picture of daily life in Back Creek spanning two
centuries emerges in stories of one-room schoolhouses, doctors on
horseback, country stores, local baseball and NASCAR races at Starkey.