Colonial Highway

Colonial Highway is a Virginia historical marker in Clarke County, dedicated 1947.

Rte. 7, eastbound, 200 feet east of Rte. 612

Get directions ↗Start a road trip Historical trails

This is one of the oldest roads leading from the east to the Shenandoah Valley; it crosses the Blue Ridge at Snicker's Gap. The ferry right over the Shenandoah River was granted, 1766. Washington used this road many times. Some distance to the east the first aerial telegraph signals were sent from the roadside, 1868.

Maps this old were drawn largely by eye, so places on them can sit miles from where they really are. The pin is ours and marks the marker's location today.

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library

Historical maps covering this location

1755 · Virginie, Maryland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1755 · North America from the French of Mr. D'Anville, improved with the back settlements of… (Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library)
1758 · A new and accurate map of the English empire in North America (Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library)
1794 · Virginia, Maryland and Delaware. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1818 · View of Richmond, Metropolis of Virginia (upper right sheet) (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

Virginie, Maryland, 1755, covering the location of Colonial Highway, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Virginie, Maryland, 1755, covering this location. David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

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For example, one family's tree showed the Articles of Confederation marker in Pennsylvania standing under a mile from where William Gabby lived in the 1760s.

What that marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years there.

From one family's 77-marker roster

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Colonial Highway

Historical maps covering this location

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