The Claudius Crozet Blue Ridge Tunnel

 

The Claudius Crozet Blue Ridge Tunnel

 

It was 85 sunny degrees outside. Inside the Claudius Crozet Blue Ridge Tunnel, it was a refreshing 60 degrees. The 4,273-foot-long engineering marvel pierced Afton Mountain with sweat, gunpowder and lives. Between 1850 and 1858 beneath Rockfish Gap in the Blue Ridge Mountains, progress was measured in feet per week due to the unexpectedly hard Catoctin Greenstone.

The east trailhead is located at 215 Afton Depot Ln. Afton, VA, below the top of Afton Mountain. The west entrance is at 483 Three Notched Mountain HWY, Waynesboro, VA. The east trailhead has a spacious parking lot with explanatory signs marking the beginning of the ¾ mile trail to the east entrance. It is an easy hike, with a gentle rise on level packed rotten stone walkway, partially shaded by adjacent Black walnut, locust and Sassafras. 

Unlike the west entrance’s elegant stonework, the east side is bare rock. 

As I enter the darkness, I see a small point of light in the distance. That is the west entrance.

 

Water drips from the ceiling, and puddles shine up from my headlamp. My somewhat inadequate headlamp does not illuminate the sidewalls, or my feet. The only frame of reference is the generally featureless packed rock dust path, and the pinpoint of light representing the other entrance. The effect is rather vertiginous. When I turn out the light, I can feel the mass of 620 feet of mountain above, or perhaps the presence of the 14 Irish immigrants and 3 black slaves who gave their lives to create this marvel. The point of light representing my goal does seem to slowly get larger, but also seems to recede. Finally, I enter sunlight on the Shenandoah Valley side. The western portion of the tunnel is lined with brickwork, the entrance dressed in artfully laid block. 

Still present are the remains of the gunpowder bores in the solid rock, painstakingly created by hitting a stout metal rod with a heavy hammer to chip a bit of rock, then rotating the rod a bit to prevent wedging, and striking it, again and again.

 I return into the cool dark, again a tiny point of light in the distance, this time the east entrance.

Want to know more? The nonprofit Blue Ridge Tunnel Foundation has done a wonderful job.

 https://www.blueridgetunnel.org/

Wear study footwear, expect some puddles, and bring a bright source of light, perhaps two! It is well worth a trip up the mountain, especially on a hot summer day.

                                     Wick Hunt