Botetourt’s 250th Anniversay Facts: Some roads
Botetourt County 250th Celebration Facts April 28
Botetourt County has been a transportation hub since before it was created in 1770. This week we look at road traffic
The Great Valley Road, The Colonial Trail and yes even Stone Coal Gap were gateways from North to South, eastern to western Virginia, and Western Virginia to the Ohio Valley.
The late Garland Stevens once told me a tale that as the Scotch-Irish and German immigrants coming from Pennsylvania made their way along the Great Valley Road from North to South, many did settle here. However, some settlers often did not stay here or in western Virginia. This transpired from the early 1800s and into the time of the Mexican War when Texas gained its Independence from Mexico and joined the United States.
Neighbors checking on friends and relatives in the Spring might find a piece of wood tacked on the cabin door with simply “GTT”
“Gone to Texas” The Great Valley Road followed much of what is Rt 11 and later much of I-81 followed the same general path and it lead south and westward.
Many of the Native American attackers slipped in and away from the Greenfield area and through Stone Coal Gap using a route over Potts Mountain now in Craig County, to go to the Ohio Valley. After George Washington left here in the 1750s after scouting out Fort William, he followed a similar route into the Ohio Valley region. Of course, US 220 paralleled the route through valleys in the mountains north through Botetourt and later , in the 20th CenturyI-64 joined up with it.
The Colonial Road brought settlers from eastern Virginia and was the key way to Colonial Williamsburg and then Richmond and early Colonial and Virginia State government. It came right into the Blue Ridge area. It basically followed the 460 path of today with a few wanderings!
Today, one of the draw cards of new industry to Botetourt County is easy road transportation via I-81, US 220 and 460 and a quick connection to I-64 as well.
When the National D-Day Memorial was built in Bedford in 2000, Exit 150 in Botetourt, we learned that 2/3rds of the US population was within a 12- hour drive of Exit 150 in Botetourt. According to VDOT statistics, over 86,000 cars pass over Exit 150 per day.
–Cathy Benson, The Botetourt Bee,
Sources: Virginia Highways Colonial Trail, National D-Day Memorial 2000, Wikipedia, The Great Valley Road, Seed Bed of the Republic by Stoner, His Excellency, George Washington by Ellis.
