The Great Valley Road of Virginia chronicles the story of one of America’s oldest, most historic, and most geographically significant roads. Emphasized throughout the chapters is a concern for landscape character and the connection of the land to the people who traveled the road and to permanent residents, who depended upon it for their livelihoods. Also included are chapters about the towns supported by the road as well as the relationship of physical geography (the lay of the land) to the engineering of the road. More than one hundred maps, photographs, engravings, and line drawings enhance the book’s value to scholars and general readers alike. Published in association with the Center for American Places
Reviews:
The Great Valley Road of Virginia strikes a very good balance between the academic and popular. Those interested in cultural landscapes in general, and highway landscapes in particular, will love the book, as will anyone with an interest in the Shenandoah Valley. This is an intelligent narrative and the depth of research, insight, and attention to detail will make this volume the ‘go-to’ book on the Shenandoah Valley.
Warren R. Hofstra, Stewart Bell Professor of History at Shenandoah University, is the author of The Planting of New Virginia: Settlement and Landscape in the Shenandoah Valley and coeditor of Virginia Reconsidered: New Histories of the Old Dominion (Virginia). Karl Raitz, Provost’s Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Kentucky, is the editor of The National Road and coauthor of Appalachia: A Regional Geography.
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