East Trailhead

The Blue Ridge Tunnel was constructed between 1849 and 1859 beneath Rockfish Gap in the Blue Ridge Mountains of central Virginia and first opened in 1858 to allow rail access through Afton Mountain. Designed by French immigrant Claudius Crozet (1789 - 1864), its chief engineer, the 4,273-foot-long passage took nearly nine years to build, employed mostly Irish immigrant laborers, and was the longest tunnel in North America at the time of its construction. At its deepest point, the tunnel lies approximately 700 feet below the surface. In 1944, the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway replaced the 86-year-old tunnel with an adjacent one at a slightly lower elevation that could accommodate larger locomotives. In the 1950's, the Dixie Bottled Gas Corporation built massive concrete bulkheads inside the tunnel in an unsuccessful effort to store propane in the chamber between them, and those barriers prevented walking through the entire tunnel until their removal in 2019 during Phase II of the Blue Ridge Tunnel Trail Project. In 2001, Nelson County began the project that restored the historic tunnel and planned for its use as an outdoor public trail. The county acquired the tunnel in 2007 from CSX Inc. and in 2013 purchased easements and land for the eastern trail in Nelson County and the western trail in Augusta County. Completed in three phases consisting of the eastern trail and parking lot, tunnel restoration, and the western trail and parking lot, the project was funded by federal, state, and local support and opened to the public in 2020 with assistance from major partners including the Virginia Department of Transportation, Commonwealth Transportation Board, City of Waynesboro, Wooolpert Inc, Fielder's Choice Enterprises Inc, Whitesell Group, Department of Conservation and Recreation, and the Claudius Crozet Blue Ridge Tunnel Foundation.

Afton, Virginia · United States