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1957 Map of East Stone Gap

Name: 1957 Topographic Map of East Stone Gap
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1959
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1959

About this map

Powell Valley serves as a primary corridor for settlement and transit in this late 1950s survey of the Virginia highlands. The community of East Stone Gap sits near the northern boundary, where the Southern railroad tracks and U.S. 23 skirt the base of Powell Mountain. The landscape is defined by the sharp transition from these low valley agricultural areas to the high, forested ridges of the Jefferson National Forest.

Family genealogy is deeply etched into the terrain through dozens of small burial grounds, such as Wilson Cem, Laney Cem, and Qualls Cem, which are scattered among the hollows of Chestnut Ridge. The presence of small-scale extraction is evidenced by a Strip mine and several abandoned workings on the slopes. Water resources are managed via the Big Cherry Reservoir, which dominates the interior highlands above the South Fork of the Powell River.