History
The earliest known use of the gap was as part of a trail of the Native Americans. Upon European colonization, the gap was first referred to as the "Upper Thoroughfare of the Blue Ridge". It was later named "Ashby's Bent" when Thomas Ashby received lands along Goose Creek, and settled Paris, Virginia at the eastern entrance to the gap. Later it came to be called Ashby's Gap. In the early 19th century the Ashby's Gap Turnpike was completed from Aldie to the crest of the gap where it met up with the Millwod Pike. Those roads in turn became the modern U.S. Route 50 in 1922 when the Commonwealth took possession of them.
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