Backcountry Notes

Northeast portal of the Blue Ridge Tunnel under Rockfish Gap. Library of Congress.The Blue Ridge Railroad was chartered and funded by the Virginia General Assembly in 1849 in order to build a rail link between the Piedmont and the Shenandoah Valley.  After surveying a route across Swift Run Gap, where U.S. 33 the Blue Ridge Mountains today, the engineers determined that construction costs were prohibitive.  The state turned to French-born engineer Claudius Crozet, one of the founders and the first Commandant of the Virginia Military Institute. Crozet looked around and determined that a series of four tunnels could be built at reasonable expense at Rockfish Gap.

Note: Click on any image for a larger view.

Detail of construction, northeast portal of Blue Ridge Tunnel. Library of COngress.Construction was finished in 1858 and the line put into service.  Crozet's engineering skills were formidable; when the two teams driving the 4,263-foot Blue Ridge Tunnel segment under Rockfish Gap met, they were within six inches of dead center. When the railway was realigned and a new tunnel dug with modern equipment in 1944, the crews met 4 feet off center.  The town of Crozet, where another tunnel was constructed, was named in the engineer's honor.

During the Civil War, one of Crozet's protégées, Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, used the tunnels to move troops rapidly by foot and horse from the Shenandoah Valley to the Piedmont.

Looking through the Blue Ridge Tunnel. Library of Congress.

A rails-to-trails project has put several miles of the above-ground route of the Blue Ridge Railroad into hiking and biking service in Nelson County, Virginia, and the project has ambitions of eventually extending the trail through the Blue Ridge Tunnel under Rockfish Gap -- which reportedly remains in excellent condition.

Crozet Tunnel entry, Albemarle County. Library of Congress.

Looking through the Crozet Tunnel. Library of CongressOne of the entries to the Greenwood Tunnel in Albemarle County; both ends have been sealed. Library of Congress.

A culvert under the Blue Ridge Railroad bed near Waynesboro. Library of Congress.

Many of Claudius Crozet's plans and drawings remain lodged with the Library of Virginia.  A few are available on-line, including A Plan of James Riv[er] from the North Branch to the balcony falls Exhibiting a comparison between the Pr. Engrs location & that substituted by the Commissioner, 1824 and A Map of the Internal Improvements of Virginia, Claudius Crozet, 1848.