Governor Alexander Spotswood led an expedition of about 50 men and 74 horses westward from Germanna, crossing the Blue Ridge Mountains at Swift Run Gap and descending into the Shenandoah Valley. On September 6, the party reached the Shenandoah River near present-day Elkton, where they fired volleys, drank toasts to King George I, and buried a bottle containing Spotswood’s formal claim to the land.
Upon their return, Spotswood presented each officer with a small golden horseshoe stickpin inscribed with the Latin motto “Sic juvat transcendere montes” (“Thus, it is pleasant to cross the mountains”). The expedition members became known as the Knights of the Golden Horseshoe, and the journey achieved legendary status in Virginia history.
The expedition opened European awareness of the fertile Shenandoah Valley, though the formidable mountain barrier meant most early settlers would arrive from the north. Spotswood’s adventure—remembered for its leisurely pace, frequent celebrations, and absence of conflict—embodied the Virginia gentry’s self-image of hospitality and conviviality.
Seven generations later, George Gordon Asher (1872-1915), a direct descendant of Governor Spotswood, would be laid to rest in Alexandria’s Presbyterian Cemetery, his gravestone proudly noting his lineage from the colonial governor.