View source for Thornton Gap

{{Infobox mountain pass
| name = Thornton Gap
| photo = NearThorntonGap.jpg
| photo_caption = View from Skyline Drive near Thornton Gap
| elevation_ft = 2,460
| elevation_ref = 
| traversed = {{jct|state=VA|US|211}}
| location = [[Page County, Virginia|Page]] / [[Rappahannock County, Virginia|Rappahannock]] counties, [[Virginia]],<br>[[United States]]
| range = [[Blue Ridge Mountains]]
| coordinates = {{coord|38|39|40|N|78|19|12|W|type:pass}}
| topo = 
}}

'''Thornton Gap''' is a [[Wind gap (geographical feature)|wind gap]] located in the [[Blue Ridge Mountains]] in [[Virginia]] separating the [[Shenandoah Valley]] from the [[Piedmont (United States)|Piedmont]] region of the state.

==History==
Thornton Gap was named for Francis Thornton (1711&ndash;April 14, 1749), owner of the land to the east and the "F.T. Valley". In 1740, he built a mansion in the Piedmont region near [[Nethers, Virginia|Nethers]] in [[Rappahannock County, Virginia|Rappahannock County]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://syndication.getoutdoors.com/npca/destination_regions/5609.html |title=NPCA Destination Finder |access-date=2005-10-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051203212401/http://syndication.getoutdoors.com/npca/destination_regions/5609.html |archive-date=2005-12-03 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Historian J. Houston Harrison indicates in 1737 the Harrison family migrated through the Gap from Alexandria before their settlement in the valley and founding of Harrisonburg.<ref>https://publiclibrary.cc/digitalcollections/files/original/12/13643/Settlers-by-the-Long-Grey-Trail-of-the-Harrison-Family.pdf</ref>

The privately owned Thornton's Gap Turnpike Company was formed to build a road over the mountains at Thornton's Gap. The [[toll road]] opened in 1806. 
 
Thornton Gap was one of the passages through the Blue Ridge Mountains between the Shenandoah Valley and the Piedmont region of Virginia used by [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] General [[Stonewall Jackson]] to move his famous "[[foot cavalry]]" troops during the [[American Civil War]].

Prior to the building of the [[Shenandoah National Park]] and the [[Skyline Drive]] by the federal [[Works Progress Administration]] (WPA) during the [[Great Depression]], the town of Beahm was located at Thornton Gap.

Sculptor [[William Randolph Barbee]] was the son of a toll collector at Thornton Gap; his son [[Herbert Barbee|Herbert]] later erected a bust in his memory at the site.

==Current information==
[[File:Thornton Gap Entrance Sign (5756959464).jpg|thumb|right|Skyline Drive entrance sign at Thornton Gap]]
Thornton Gap is the site of the mountain crossing of [[U.S. Highway 211]]. It is located at the border of [[Page County, Virginia|Page County]] and [[Rappahannock County, Virginia|Rappahannock County]]. At Thornton Gap, there is an entry point for the [[Skyline Drive]], which runs between [[Front Royal, Virginia|Front Royal]] and the northern terminus with the [[Blue Ridge Parkway]] at [[Rockfish Gap]]. The Skyline Drive generally following the mountain ridge tops through the [[Shenandoah National Park]], which has its headquarters near Thornton Gap in the [[Luray, Virginia|Town of Luray]]. The [[Appalachian Trail]] also passes through Thornton Gap.

== See also ==
* [[Former counties, cities, and towns of Virginia]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commonscat}}
*Geographical coordinates: {{coord|38|39|40|N|78|19|12|W|type:pass}} (click for maps and satellite photos of Thornton Gap)
*[http://www.virginiaplaces.org/transportation/traveast.html Virginia Places web site] Much information about Virginia's geography

===Internet===
* [http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/va/fredericksburg/cemeteries/thornton.txt Francis Thornton's tombstone]

{{Gaps of the Appalachian Mountains}}

[[Category:Wind gaps of Virginia]]
[[Category:Blue Ridge Mountains]]
[[Category:Mountains of Page County, Virginia]]
[[Category:Mountains of Rappahannock County, Virginia]]
[[Category:Shenandoah National Park]]