Jarman's Gap - Virginia Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

Sign Text:

FIVE MILES EAST, FORMERLY KNOWN AS WOODS' GAP, MICHAEL WOODS, HIS THREE SONS AND THREE WALLACE SONS-IN-LAW (ANDREW, PETER, WILLIAM), COMING FROM PENNSYLVANIA VIA THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY, CROSSED THROUGH THIS PASS INTO ALBEMARLE COUNTY IN 1734-PIONEERS IN SETTLING THIS SECTION. IN 1780-81 BRITISH PRISONERS TAKEN AT SARATOGA WENT THROUGH THE GAP EN ROUTE TO WINCHESTER. IN JUNE 1862 PART OF JACKSON'S ARMY, MOVING TO JOIN LEE AT RICHMOND, USED THIS PASSAGE.

VIRGINIA CONSERVATION COMMISSION - 1949

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Woods Gap has not gone the way of most frontier passages and become a super highway. More than half the original trail still exists in its primitive state as when Michael Woods, the Englishman, led our Scottish clans into American history 270 years ago.

In 1757, The Virginia legislature designated this as “Woods Gap,” which it was to be called forever and ever. That is why today, 247 years later it is still called...”Jarman's Gap.” It seems that around 1820, a man named Jarman bought the land, and, defying the Virginia legislature, called it Jarman's Gap. To this day, it has upset the Woods-Wallace historians to no end.

The Jarman's Gap Road proceeds west out of the little community of Jarman's Gap (In Albemarle County, near Crozet, VA) a couple of miles up the mountain to the Shenandoah National Park boundary. From the end of State maintenance the road proceeds about 200 yards to a Park gate. That section and the subsequent 200 yards west of the gate connecting to the Skyline Drive in Jarman's Gap itself is rarely maintained by the Park maintenance staff. The Road terminates at the Skyline Drive. Years ago (late 60's) the Park superintendent ordered that the section of the road west of the Skyline Drive be closed and be returned to nature. A hiker can follow the old roadbed into Augusta County, but no vehicle can go through.

The road is useable on the Albemarle County side. The public can drive all the way to the aforementioned gate at the park boundary, but the road is in poor condition from the end of State maintenance to the gate. From the gate to Skyline Drive you must hike.

The road is gravel only (one lane). There are some places on the Albemarle County part of the road where two vehicles can pass. It has gone back to the original trace, and wagon road. It was widely used until the advent of the automobile in the 1920s. The Wood's families traveled through this gap constantly, for generations, to visit one another. Today there are still many boulders, fallen trees, twists and turns, and a myriad of other obstacles to challenge a hiker.

Marker Number: JD-14 Marker Title: Jarman's Gap Marker Location: At a pulloff on State Rt. 340 southbound between Dooms and Waynesboro, Va. approximately 5 miles west of Jarman's Gap across the road from Eastside Speedway. Spectacular view of Jarman's Gap directly east. County or Independent City: Augusta County Web Site: [Web Link] Marker Program Sponsor: Virginia Conservation Commission, 1949

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