The Claudius Crozet Blue Ridge Tunnel: Then and Now

Growing up in Augusta County, I’d often heard of the Crozet Tunnel. It became one of those sites of local legends that older kids would tell the younger kids to scare them. “It’s haunted.”  “Dead bodies were hidden there.” “A camp of hobos lived there.” “Cults hold their ceremonies.”  Anything to get us to shudder. When I became old enough to do my own research, I began to appreciate the tunnel as more than just a scare tactic.

Picture found at http://www.c-ville.com/project-underway-to-add-claudius-crozets-blue-ridge-tunnel-to-national-register-of-historic-places/#.UqfRCPRDt5I

The tunnel, properly titled as the Claudius Crozet Blue Ridge Tunnel, was named after the French engineer, Claudius Crozet, who was also the Chief Engineer for the Virginia Board of Public Works. Crozet determined that it was necessary to establish a transportation link through the Blue Ridge Mountains, connecting the Piedmont region to the Shenandoah Valley. He began construction in 1850, starting simultaneously from the eastern entrance in Afton in Nelson County and from the western entrance in Augusta County near the city of Waynesboro. The contracting firm of Kelley and Larguey, largely consisting of Irish laborers as well as several dozen slaves, slowly excavated the mountain using hand tools and black powder, along with Crozet’s innovations of a smoke-removal ventilation system and the world’s longest siphon. Due to the dangerous nature of this task, many crew members were injured or killed by falling rock, explosions, or other accidents. On December 29, 1856, laborers from both sides of the mountain “holed through” either side, meeting within inches of his carefully-engineered centerline alignment. Constructed of the 4,264 foot tunnel was deemed completed in 1858, making it the longest railroad tunnel in North America at the time.

Current view of the western entrance in Augusta County.

Current view of the eastern entrance in Nelson County.

Less than a century later, in 1944, the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway completed a new tunnel adjacent to the Blue Ridge Tunnel to accommodate for larger freight trains. The original tunnel has not been utilized since, but was designated by the American Society of Civil Engineers as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1976.

In 2012, a non-profit organization called the Claudius Crozet Blue Ridge Tunnel Foundation was formed with the purpose of preserving this land mark. Their goal is to restore the tunnel and to reopen it to the public as a recreational destination – allowing bicyclists, hikers, and other tourists from the Blue Ridge Parkway, Shenandoah National Park, the Appalachian Trail, and U.S. Bicycle Route 76 to visit and learn of its history.

Tim Padalino, a member of the Foundation, commented, “The Tunnel project should incorporate elements of historical interpretation, education, and heritage tourism. The history(s) of the Tunnel result in opportunities for school field trips, increased heritage tourism, and education and celebration of the cultural history of the Tunnel.”

“The Tunnel is a unique and an incredible historic resource. It provides an exciting opportunity to restore an underutilized historic asset for a new era of public re-use as a recreational asset of tremendous experiential value, and as a cultural landscape of great educational value. Further, it is a community resource that is at risk – it is in danger from ongoing illegal visitation and increased vandalism. Contrary to what the common perception may be, the Tunnel does not have a static status – it will either continue to be neglected and vandalized, or it can be restored. The Foundation believes that the time for action is now, in order to ensure that the Tunnel’s future is a success story, and not a lost opportunity.”

More information on the Claudius Crozet Blue Ridge Tunnel Foundation, and the tunnel itself, can be found at http://blueridgetunnel.org/