Seneca Rocks is a large crag and local landmark in Pendleton County in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, United States.

Millions of years of erosion stripped away the overlying rock and left remnants of the arching folds in the form of these landmark outcrops.

Evidence suggests that the Native Americans of the Archaic Period may have camped frequently at the mouth of nearby Seneca Creek at the foot of the Rocks.

Excavation for the building of the present Seneca Rocks Visitor Center uncovered evidence of two villages,[4] the more recent of which thrived about 700 years ago.

[citation needed] The first European visitors to see the region were surveyors who passed through around 1746, and the first settlers arrived at Mouth of Seneca fifteen years later.

The Rocks were visited and sketched by the well-known writer and magazine illustrator David Hunter Strother (known by his pseudonym "Porte Crayon") around 1853.

Undoubtedly Native Americans scaled the rocks prior to European settlers reaching the area, but there is no record of their ascents.

[5] The documented climbing history of the Rocks begins in 1935 with a roped descent - the ascent was a steep hike – of the North Peak by Paul Bradt and Florence Perry.

[15] The "Seneca Rock" turnpoint at 38°50′03″N 79°22′04″W / 38.83417°N 79.36778°W / 38.83417; -79.36778 has been used by glider pilots for gliding competitions and soaring awards because its distinctive appearance in aerial photographs made it suitable for photo documentation of the flight performance.

[18] A popular romance of the Rocks — "The Betrothal of Snow Bird, Princess of the Seneca Indians" — was written in 1932 by Harry Malcolm Wade.

[19] West Virginia writer J. Lawrence Smith provides the following short summary of the story: Princess Snow Bird, who had grown to maidenhood in the shadow of the rocks and scaled their heights many times, proposed a contest to her father, [Chief] Bald Eagle.

From their lofty perch, Snow Bird and her future mate surveyed the surrounding realm of the Seneca that would be theirs to rule one day.