Though the Shenandoah Valley is commonly said to reach as far as Roanoke, it and Lexington are not in the Shenandoah River basin which reaches somewhat past Staunton. The Shenandoah Valley is a productive agricultural region first settled by German and Scotch-Irish emigrants from Pennsylvania, in contrast to the largely English settlement of the Virginia tidewater and piedmont regions.
The Shenandoah Valley was a major seat of battle in the American Civil War.
See: Great Valley