Roads West

During the 1770s, Samuel Pepper established a nearby ferry crossing that opened a transportation route during the late colonial and early national periods, linking the resources of the West with the population centers in the East. A century later, the Norfolk & Western Railroad designed a route through this part of the New River Valley, providing access to vast coalfields near Flat Top Mountain. In 1899, the Pepper’s Ferry Bridge and Tunnel were completed to circumvent a bend in the New River. Now known as the Cowan Tunnel, it retains the original stone-faced portal on the west side.

Fairlawn, Virginia · United States