Photo #28419 - Photo of the Confederate Breastworks Interpretive Trail. The Confederate Breastworks is located on U.S. 250 atop Shenandoah Mountain. It is the historic site where Confederate soldiers constructed a long trench-like fortification to guard and protect this position on Shenandoah Mountain during the early part of the Civil War. There is a short loop trail which follows along the remnants of the breastworks. An observation area adjacent to the parking area affords an excellent view of the Cowpasture River Valley west of Shenandoah Mountain Western Virginia is mountainous, covered by the Allegheny and Blue Ridge mountains with the great Shenandoah Valley falling between the ranges. The central piedmont region, with its rolling hills, flattens out into the sandy coastal plain toward the Atlantic Ocean.