Hanging Rocks

Hanging Rocks
Hanging Rocks viewed from the South Branch Potomac River
Elevation	1,040 ft (317 m)
Location	Hampshire County, West Virginia, United States
Range	Mill Creek Mountain Ridge and Valley Appalachians
Coordinates	39°23′56″N 78°44′21″W / 39.399°N 78.7391°W / 39.399; -78.7391
Topo map	USGS Springfield

Hanging Rocks are perpendicular cliffs rising nearly 300 feet (91 m) above the South Branch Potomac River in Hampshire County in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Hanging Rocks are located four miles (6 km) north of Romney at Wappocomo on West Virginia Route 28. Hanging Rocks has also been known throughout its history as Painted Rocks and Blue's Rocks. When distinguished from the "Lower Hanging Rocks" along the South Branch at Blues Beach to the north, Hanging Rocks is referred to as Upper Hanging Rocks.

Hanging Rocks is arranged in the form of three anticlinal arches, of which the most eastern spans 250, the second 550, and the third 220 yards in width. Hanging Rocks consists of anticlinal stratified sandstone and limestone layers. The upper stratum of rocks is Monterey and Oriskany sandstone. Immediately below the Monterey and Oriskany (Ridgeley) sandstone lies a layer of cherty limestone known as Lewiston chert-lentil which consists of a conglomeration of brachiopods. Atop Hanging Rocks is a level bench of land devoid of stone and containing fine rich soil.

At the western end of the Hanging Rocks formation lies an exposure of fine black to drab shales also containing small concretions and some fossils. Contained in one of the shale layers are numerous specimens of Phacops cristata Hall. A volume of The Journal of Geology published by the University of Chicago in 1915 noted the following additional species collected in the layers of Hanging Rocks shale: