Secrets of the Blue Ridge: Rockfish Gap’s Storied Mountain Top Inn - Crozet Gazette

Secrets of the Blue Ridge: Rockfish Gap’s Storied Mountain Top Inn - Crozet Gazette

The 18th century Rockfish Gap Tavern (on right) was chosen in 1818 as the meeting place for three U.S. presidents: Jefferson, Madison and Monroe, and a bevy of other great minds, to select the location for Virginia’s Central College (University of Virginia). The venerable hostelry was lost to fire in 1903. Courtesy Augusta Co. Historical Society; Frances Scruby Collection Mountain Top Hotel, at Rockfish Gap near the conjunction of Albemarle, Augusta and Nelson Counties, featured a badminton court on its front lawn adjacent to the former Staunton and James River Turnpike. Other entertainment for guests included carriage rides, dances, and hiking. Courtesy Augusta Co. Historical Society; Frances Scruby Collection In later years, private cottages were built at Mountain Top Hotel for the hotel’s owners and honored guests. Courtesy Augusta Co. Historical Society; Frances Scruby Collection The Mountain Top Inn’s location provided a most unique “front row” opportunity for its delighted guests when the Blue Ridge Railroad Company’s temporary Overmountain Track carried freight and passenger trains over—not beneath—Rockfish Gap, 1854–1858, during the digging of Claudius Crozet’s famed Blue Ridge Tunnel. Courtesy Augusta Co. Historical Society; Frances Scruby CollectionThe post Secrets of the Blue Ridge: Rockfish Gap’s Storied Mountain Top Inn first appeared on Crozet Gazette.