Snickers Gap

Infobox Mountain Pass
Name = Snickers Gap
Photo = Sickers Gap.jpg
Caption = Snickers Gap as seen from across the Loudoun Valley on Mount Gilead
Elevation = 1018 ft./325 m.
Location = Virginia USA
Range = Blue Ridge Mountains
Coordinates =
Topographic

Transversed by =

Snickers Gap, originally William's Gap, is a wind gap in the Blue Ridge Mountain on the border of Loudoun County and Clarke County in Virginia. The gap is traversed by Virginia State Route 7. The Appalachian trail also passes across the gap.

Geography

At 1018 ft (326 m) the gap is some 300-600ft below the adjacent ridge line and 400-600 feet above the surrounding countryside. Due to the dwindling height of the Blue Ridge as it approaches the Potomac River, Snickers Gap is one of the lowest wind gaps of the ridge in Virginia, with only Manassas Gap and the adjacent Keyes Gap being lower.

History

The gap has been a major thoroughfare between the Piedmont and Shenandoah Valley since before the European colonization of the area. Native Americans originally cut a trail through the gap that continued to be used by white settlers. The gap was known as Williams' Gap until the early 1790s when the modern name began to be used. The gap derived its name from Edward Snickers, who owned the gap and surrounding land and operated a ferry across the Shenandoah River on the western side of the gap. By the late 18th century the Snickersville Turnpike and the Snickers Gap Turnpike were completed and Snickers Gap became the main thoroughfare between Loudoun and the Shenandoah, bypassing Keyes Gap, which to that point had been the preferred route. The two turnpikes joined at Snickersville (present day Bluemont) and then proceeded over the gap to Winchester. The toll at the gap persisted well into the 20th century. The Snickers Gap turnpike was eventually made into Virginia State Route 7, and the toll was dropped.

References

*Scheel, Eugene M. "Loudoun Discovered: Communities and Corners and Crossroads" Vol 4. Friends of the Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg Va. 2002.