The Blue Ridge Tunnel

Performers: Kim Brooks Mata and Katie Baer Schetlick

Active: 1858 – 1944
Length: 7/8 of a mile
Construction: 8 years (pre-dynamite and drills)
Labor: Over 1,000 Irish immigrants and slaves. Working 6 days/week. For $1 a day.
Engineer: Claudius Crozet
Of Note: At the time it was the longest tunnel in America. First passageway through the Blue Ridge Mountains to the West. Strategically used as a crossing through the Blue Ridge Mountains by Confederate soldiers during the American Civil War. Awarded Historic National Civil Engineering Landmark.

Many thanks to Clann Mhór for their passionate research of the Blue Ridge Railroad Project