Tour 21 (Franklin, W-Va.)-Warm Springs-Hot Springs-Covington-Clifton Forge-Roanoke-Rocky Mount-Martinsville-(Winston-Salem, N.C.). US 220. West Virginia Line to North Carolina Line, 187.4 m. This route takes a north-south course across Virginia and affords a diversified view of the 'back country,' settled in the middle of the eighteenth century during the desperate last stand of the Indians against encroachment by the whites. It is now punctuated by textile mills. Section a. WEST VIRGINIA LINE to ROANOKE; 119.4 m. US 220. This section of the highway follows the Jackson River between lofty peaks of the Alleghenies, passes through an area of thermal and mineral springs, and enters the Roanoke Valley. US 220 crosses the West Virginia Line, m., at a point 15 miles south of Franklin, W.Va. (see West Virginia Guide) and runs to a junction with State 284 at 1.1 m. Right on this road, which affords beautiful views along the South Fork of the Potomac River, to CRABBOTTOM, 2.7 m. (3,000 alt., 100 pop.), in the fertile limestone soil of Crabbottom Valley. East of the village is a curious limestone formation that arches up from the river like the vertebrae of some monstrous prehistoric animal and gives the place the name of Devil's Backbone. Left from Crabbottom 1.3 m. on County 640 to NEW HAMPDEN (50 pop.), a mountain hamlet between two long ridges. An old water-powered mill in the settlement grinds the grain of the neighborhood. | |
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