Grassy Hill Natural Area Preserve is a 1440 acres (582.7 ha) Natural Area Preserve

Virginia Natural Area Preserve System

The Virginia Natural Area Preserve System is a system of protected areas in the state of Virginia. It was established in the late 1980s to protect sites that were designated as among the most significant natural areas in the state...

 located in Franklin County, Virginia

Franklin County, Virginia

As of the census of 2000, there were 47,286 people, 18,963 households, and 13,918 families residing in the county. The population density was 68 people per square mile . There were 22,717 housing units at an average density of 33 per square mile...

, just to the west of the town of Rocky Mount

Rocky Mount, Virginia

Rocky Mount is the county seat of Franklin County, Virginia, United States. The town is part of the Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area, and had a population of 4,066 at the 2000 census. It is located in the Roanoke Region of Virginia-History:...

. The site is composed of rocky slopes with various hardwood

Hardwood

Hardwood is wood from angiosperm trees . It may also be used for those trees themselves: these are usually broad-leaved; in temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen.Hardwood contrasts with softwood...

 species and patches of Virginia Pine

Virginia Pine

Pinus virginiana is a medium-sized tree, often found on poorer soils from Long Island in southern New York south through the Appalachian Mountains to western Tennessee and Alabama. The usual size range for this pine is 9–18 m, but can grow taller under optimum conditions. The trunk can be...

. Shallow soils predominate, and there is much bedrock

Bedrock

In stratigraphy, bedrock is the native consolidated rock underlying the surface of a terrestrial planet, usually the Earth. Above the bedrock is usually an area of broken and weathered unconsolidated rock in the basal subsoil...

. Rare woodland communities live within these substrate

Substrate (biology)

In biology a substrate is the surface a plant or animal lives upon and grows on. A substrate can include biotic or abiotic materials and animals. For example, encrusting algae that lives on a rock can be substrate for another animal that lives on top of the algae. See also substrate .-External...

s, and numerous rare plants may be found near the summit. It seems likely that this type of community once dominated much of the site.