Rockfish Gap

The Blue Ridge Tunnel (also known as the Crozet Tunnel) is a historic railroad tunnel built during the construction of the Blue Ridge Railroad in the 1850s. The tunnel was the westernmost and longest of four tunnels engineered by Claudius Crozet to cross the Blue Ridge Mountains at Rockfish Gap in central Virginia. At 4,237 feet (1,291 m) in length, the tunnel was the longest tunnel in the United States at the time of its completion. The tunnel was used by the Virginia Central Railroad from its opening to 1858, when the line was reorganized as the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad (renamed Chesapeake and Ohio Railway in 1878). The Chesapeake and Ohio routed trains through the tunnel until it was abandoned and replaced by a new tunnel in 1944. The new tunnel was named the "Blue Ridge Tunnel" as well, although the original tunnel still remains abandoned nearby. The old Blue Ridge Tunnel has since been named a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1976. In late 2020, after a decade of stabilization work and restoration as well as access pathway construction, the tunnel was opened to visitors as a linear park.

Swannanoa is an Italian Renaissance Revival villa built in 1912 by millionaire and philanthropist James H. Dooley (1841–1922) above Rockfish Gap on the border of northern Nelson County and Augusta County, Virginia, in the US. It is partially based on buildings in the Villa Medici, Rome. Rockfish Gap is the southern end of the Skyline Drive through the Shenandoah National Park and the northern terminus of the Blue Ridge Parkway. It is located on the crest of the Blue Ridge mountains, overlooking both Shenandoah and Rockfish valleys. It is located on a jurisdictional border, so it is in both Augusta and Nelson counties.

Afton is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Albemarle and Nelson counties in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is newly listed as a CDP in the 2020 census with a population of 313.

The Virginia Metalcrafters Historic District encompasses a historic industrial complex at 1010 East Main Street in Waynesboro, Virginia. The complex includes one large multi-section brick factory, a number of small outbuildings (most in deteriorated condition), and the ruins of at least one collapsed building. The district is named for the Virginia Metalcrafters Company, which operated out of the complex from 1925 until 2006 and produced reproduction hardware for historic sites including Colonial Williamsburg, Mystic Seaport, and Old Salem.The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.The complex was purchased in 2013 by VM Acquisitions and is being renovated as a Virginia Metalcrafters Marketplace with a focus on craftsmanship. Basic City Beer Co. was the first occupant to renovate and begin production of beer within the facility starting in 2016. They currently occupy a portion of the original foundry and the Showroom. The brewery is expanding to include a music venue called The Foundry opening in March of 2023 and a restaurant. Common Wealth Crush now occupies a portion of the main building. They work with local winemakers to produce small batch wines in their facility with plans for a tasting room to open in 2023. A local coffee roaster will occupy the building as well.Renovation work continues on the sawtooth portion of the building, and will provide space for additional tenants.

Fairfax Hall, also known as Hotel Brunswick, Brandon Hotel, or Fairfax Hall School, is a historic building located at Waynesboro, Virginia. It was built in 1890, and is a 2+1⁄2-story, very long and rambling resort hotel building in the shingled mode of the Queen Anne style. It has an irregular symmetry with towers at either end of the facade, a one-story porte cochere, a distinctive octagonal belvedere and cupola, and glassed in first story porches. Also on the property is a contributing gymnasium, built in 1926 in the European Renaissance style. It was originally occupied by the Brandon Hotel resort. The Brandon closed in 1913 but the building reopened as a school. In 1920 the school became Fairfax Hall, a junior college and preparatory school for girls. After the school closed in 1975, it was leased by the Virginia Department of Corrections as a training academy but then purchased and reopened as a retirement home.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.Former students of the college and preparatory school for girls include film star Martha Hyer, musician Nikki Hornsby and politician Julia Brownley.

Basic City was an incorporated town located in Augusta County, Virginia, in the United States. Formed in 1890, it was named after a process for steel manufacture. This process was to be implemented in Basic City, and gave rise to land speculation. There was a boomtown rally of manufacturing and commercial development in Basic City between 1890 and 1893 as two railroads crossed here at a point called The Iron Cross: the Norfolk and Western and the Chesapeake and Ohio. Basic City was once bigger than the surrounding city of Waynesboro, Virginia. As the national economy experienced a depression between 1893 and 1896, sources of investment money disappeared and many new industries in Basic City experienced bankruptcy and closed. The town's real estate bubble burst and many businesses started between 1890 and 1893 did not survive. In 1924, Basic City consolidated with the adjacent Town of Waynesboro, which had been formed in 1798. The new name for the town was called Waynesboro-Basic. It was later renamed "Waynesboro". In 1948, the Town of Waynesboro became an independent city. However, Basic City had become one of the "Lost Towns" of Virginia. In modern times, only a handful of buildings and businesses bear the Basic name. One of them is the Basic City Luncheonette. The city-owned Basic Park is another. The Basic City Beer Company is a recent enterprise set up in the east end of the otherwise-vacant former Virginia Metalcrafters fabrication complex. At least one church, Basic United Methodist Church (BUMc) has long had the word Basic in its name.

Crompton-Shenandoah Plant, also known as The Mill at South River, is a historic textile factory complex located at Waynesboro, Virginia. The complex includes 11 contributing buildings and 8 contributing structures involved in the dyeing and finishing of the gray corduroy and velveteen goods. The historic buildings and structures were built beginning in 1926 through 1948. The complex includes two plant buildings, a machine shop/supply storage building, a former enameling plant, a boiler house, a water softener building, a chemical storage building, a lab, a gate house/personnel office, an office building and a retail store. The factory closed in the 1980s along with most Crompton Corporation plants.It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2011.

Avon is an unincorporated community in Nelson County, Virginia, United States.

On July 31, 1984, a series of gas explosions occurred in Waynesboro, Virginia, following reports of gas leaks earlier that night. Eleven people were killed and twenty-three others were injured.

The Coiner–Quesenbery House, also known as Casper Coiner House, is a historic home located at Waynesboro, Virginia. It was built in 1806, and is a two-story, three bay, Federal style house. The house originally had a hall and parlor plan, later modified in the 1820s–1830s to a more conventional side hall plan.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

The Waynesboro Downtown Historic District is a national historic district in Waynesboro, Virginia. In 2002, it included 43 contributing buildings in the compact central business district of Waynesboro. The district includes churches, houses, mixed-use commercial buildings, banks, specialty stores, offices, a hotel, restaurants, and parking lots. Notable buildings include the First National Bank (1908–09), the LB&B Building (1929), and the General Wayne Hotel (1937-1938).It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.

McCormick Gap is a wind gap located in the Blue Ridge Mountains east of Rockfish Gap.