Transition from Rail to Trail

The Virginia Carolina Railway, now the Virginia Creeper Trail, was originally built to haul timber cut from what is now the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area. Between 1907 and 1930, approximately 15 million board feet of lumber were removed in a typical year. In 1912, National Lumber Magazine reported that Washington County, Virginia, produced more lumber than any county in the United States and more than the entire state of Pennsylvania. Unlike mineral resources, the forest is renewable, and as the once clear-cut forest regenerated into mature woodland, its recreation potential was recognized. The rail bed that had carried huge amounts of wealth out of the forest now returns ecotourism dollars to the region. Damascus was severely hurt when several factories closed during the 1960s, and tourism-related businesses tied to the popularity of the Virginia Creeper Trail and the Appalachian Trail have played an important role in the town's economic recovery. Today, the 17-mile portion of the Virginia Creeper Trail outside the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area is jointly owned by the towns of Abingdon and Damascus, while the U.S. Forest Service manages the rest of the trail between Damascus and the North Carolina state line.

Virginia · United States