Geography
At 1,027 feet (313 m) the gap is 500 feet (150 m) below the adjacent ridge line to the north, and 700 feet (210 m) above the Shenandoah River, which flows to the north, west of the gap. To the west lies Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, which is part of the Great Appalachian Valley and to the east lies Virginia's Piedmont region. Just south of this gap is Sky Meadows State Park.
The gap serves as the western demarcation point for the border between Fauquier and Loudoun counties, originally marked by a "double-bodied poplar tree standing in or near the middle of the thoroughfare of Ashby's Gap on the top of the Blue Ridge." The tree has since died and the thoroughfare, modern day U.S. Route 50, realigned to the south so that Loudoun County is not entered when traveling through the gap.
Read more about this topic: Ashby Gap
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