This is a list of turnpike roads, built and operated by nonprofitturnpike trusts or private companies in exchange for the privilege of collecting a toll, in the U.S. states of Virginia and West Virginia, mainly in the 19th century. While most of the roads are now maintained as free public roads, some have been abandoned.
U.S. Route 220, Old Fincastle Road, Mount Moriah Road, Sugar Tree Hollow Road, Craig Creek Road, Roaring Run Road, Rich Patch Road, Watahala Lane, Middle Mountain Road
Remnants of the old turnpike road have been used in the present day. SR 603 (Cove Road) changes from asphalt to gravel surface when it intersects the Wythe/Bland line at Little Walker Mountain. A large abandoned segment descends Big Walker Mountain from Bland and is congruent with SR 653 (Raleigh-Grayson Turnpike) in downtown Bland. Another abandoned segment carried the original alignment of U.S. 52 north of Bland, skirting the ridge of Hogback Mountain from the gap with Brushy Mountain into Bastian until the construction of Interstate 77, and U.S. 52 was shifted west and parallel to Interstate 77.
The turnpike traveled east on what is currently Virginia State Route 61 (SR61) from Tazewell to SR623, which it turned onto. It then followed a windy crossing into Burke's Garden, and then exited on a much narrower, steeper, and windier section until it reached SR42. The turnpike then followed SR42 briefly before moving off onto SR621 (Old Mountain Road). The turnpike followed this onto U.S. Route52 (US52; Stoney Fork Road), and followed this into Wytheville. The routing south of Wytheville is unclear, perhaps following Peppers Ferry Road to Max Meadows, and then following SR121 (Max Meadows Road) south onto US52 to Fancy Gap.
The Tazewell Courthouse and Fancy Gap Turnpike, along with the Price's Turnpike and Cumberland Gap Road, was constructed through Tazewell County from 1848 to 1852.[5] It extended from Tazewell, through Burke's Garden and Wytheville, to Fancy Gap. After the Civil War, the road served as part of a stagecoach route from the Great Lakes to the South.[6] In 1885, New York University geology professor John J. Stevenson praised the road's engineering, calling it "...remarkably good..." despite the obstacle of Clinch Mountain.[7]
Leesburg is a town in and the county seat of Loudoun County, Virginia, United States. Settlement in the area began around 1740, which is named for the Lee family, early leaders of the town. Located in the far northeast of the state, in the War of 1812 it was a refuge for important federal documents evacuated from Washington, DC, and in the Civil War, it changed hands several times.
Purcellville is a town in Loudoun County, Virginia. The population was 8,929 according to the 2020 Census. Purcellville is the major population center for Western Loudoun and the Loudoun Valley. Many of the older structures remaining in Purcellville reflect the Victorian architecture popular during the early twentieth century.
Airmont is an unincorporated community in the Loudoun Valley of Loudoun County, Virginia, United States. It is located at the crossroads of Snickersville Pike and Airmont Road approximately 7 miles (11 km) south of the town of Round Hill and 3 miles (4.8 km) east of the village of Bluemont.
U.S. Route 50 is a transcontinental highway which stretches from Ocean City, Maryland to West Sacramento, California. In the U.S. state of Virginia, US 50 extends 86 miles (138 km) from the border with Washington, D.C. at a Potomac River crossing at Rosslyn in Arlington County to the West Virginia state line near Gore in Frederick County.
Neersville is an unincorporated community in northwestern Loudoun County, Virginia, United States. It is located in the Between the Hills area of the Loudoun Valley on Harpers Ferry Road at the foot of Short Hill Mountain. It is notable for being the birthplace of Confederate guerrilla John Mobberly.
Between the Hills is a small valley in northwest Loudoun County, Virginia, distinct from, but associated with, the greater Loudoun Valley.
Loudoun County, Virginia, was destined to be an area of significant military activity during the American Civil War. Located on Virginia's northern frontier, the Potomac River, Loudoun County became a borderland after Virginia's secession from the Union in early 1861. Loudoun County's numerous Potomac bridges, ferries and fords made it an ideal location for the Union and Confederate armies to cross into and out of Virginia. Likewise, the county's several gaps in the Blue Ridge Mountains that connected the Piedmont to the Shenandoah Valley and Winchester were of considerable strategic importance. The opposing armies would traverse the county several times throughout the war leading to several small battles, most notably the Battle of Ball's Bluff.
Hogback Mountain is part of Catoctin Mountain, located southwest of Leesburg in Loudoun County, Virginia. The mountain ridge rises immediately to the west of U.S. Route 15, just south of Sycolin Creek and extends 2.5 miles (4.0 km) south to the banks of Goose Creek. It is so named for its appearance when approaching it from the north of resembling a pig on its back. The ridge is mislabeled on older USGS topographic maps as being located to the north, between Sycolin Creek and Leesburg.
Willard was an unincorporated community located in what is now a part of Washington Dulles International Airport in the U.S. state of Virginia.
Mount Gilead is an unincorporated community in Loudoun County, Virginia. Mount Gilead lies atop an 602 ft (183 m) peak of Catoctin Mountain to the east of the North Fork Goose Creek.
Furnace Mountain is the tallest peak of Catoctin Mountain in Loudoun County, Virginia. It rises steeply from the southern banks of the Potomac River across from Point of Rocks, Maryland and continues southward for 1 mile (1.6 km), reaching an elevation of 891 feet (272 m) before falling to a gap between it and an unnamed peak of 800 feet (240 m). Its name arises from the iron furnaces located at its base, which operated from the 1790s to the 1870s. The furnaces were used to process iron ore mined from the mountain, much of which was used to build the burgeoning city of Washington D.C.
Snickers Gap, originally William's Gap, is a wind gap in the Blue Ridge Mountain on the border of Loudoun County and Clarke County in Virginia. The gap is traversed by Virginia State Route 7. The Appalachian Trail also passes across the gap. Bear's Den and Raven Rocks are adjacent to the gap.
Paris is an unincorporated hamlet in Fauquier County, Virginia, United States. Located in Virginia's hunt country, it was established in a strategic spot at the eastern base of Ashby Gap along U.S. Route 17 and U.S. Route 50.
Clarke's Gap, also known as Clarks Gap, is a pass through Catoctin Mountain west of Leesburg, Virginia. The gap has an elevation of 643 feet (196 m). The gap is not a true wind gap, but rather a man-made railroad cut through a local saddle point between two ridges to the southeast and northwest created by the drainage of Dry Mill Branch of Tuscarora Creek to the east and an unnamed tributary of Catoctin Creek to the west.
Wilson Gap, originally known as Gregory's Gap, is a wind gap in the Blue Ridge Mountain, located on the border of Loudoun County, Virginia and Jefferson County, West Virginia. The Appalachian Trail crosses the gap.
Samuel Carrington Means was the founder and first captain of the Loudoun Rangers, a Union Army unit from Virginia that served during the American Civil War.
Hillsboro Gap, also known as the Gap in the Short Hill is a water gap in the Short Hill Mountain formed by the North Fork of the Catoctin Creek in Loudoun County, Virginia. The gap derives its name from the town of Hillsboro, which is nestled in the gap. Virginia State Route 9 passes through the gap in the town.
The Catoctin Valley is a small valley, geographically and culturally associated with the larger Loudoun Valley in Loudoun County, Virginia.
The Carolina Road or the "Old Carolina Road" are names for various sections of the Great Wagon Road and other routes in colonial America. "The 'Old Carolina Road', extending from Lancaster, Pennsylvania to the Yadkin Valley, was one of the most heavily traveled roads in eighteenth century America." Parts of the 180-mile-long (290 km) Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area scenic byway follow the Old Carolina Road through Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia.
Ludwell Lee was a prominent American lawyer and planter who served in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly representing Prince William and Fairfax Counties and rose to become the Speaker of the Virginia Senate. Beginning in 1799, following the death of his first wife, Lee built Belmont Manor, a planation house in Loudoun County, Virginia, which today is on the National Register of Historic Places.
References
↑ Scheel, Eugene M. (2002). Loudoun Discovered, Communities, Corners & Crossroads, Volume Two, Leesburg and the Old Carolina Road. The Friends of the Thomas Balch Library. p.134.
1 2 Scheel, Eugene M. (2002). Loudoun Discovered, Communities, Corners & Crossroads, Volume Five, Waterford, The German Settlement, and Between the Hills. The Friends of the Thomas Balch Library. p.18.
Central Virginia (Map). United States Army Corps of Topographical Engineers. 1864.
"A Map of the State of Virginia" (Map). Herman Boye. 1827.{{cite map}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
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