The Ashby’s Gap Turnpike GeoTrail
The Old Carolina Road
Presented by the Virginia Piedmont Heritage Area
This cache is part of a series that takes you along the former Ashby’s Gap Turnpike. For centuries, this path was a vital thoroughfare across Northern Virginia. From its beginnings as a Native American trail, through its use as a colonial road and 19th century turnpike, to its transformation into a modern highway, this road has seen a lot of history. The Virginia Piedmont Heritage Area invites you to follow in the footsteps of Native hunters, colonial settlers, enslaved African-Americans, Civil War soldiers, and more.
The Cache is not located at the listed coordinates!
The portion of modern Rt. 50 that runs between Aldie and the Blue Ridge Mountains follows an ancient trail network that predates European settlement. Native American trade routes spread in every direction, carrying people and goods between the tidewater and piedmont regions of northern Virginia. The trail that would eventually become the Ashby’s Gap Turnpike ran east-west, towards the gaps in the Blue Ridge and across the Shenandoah River. Near this location, this path intersected with a major north-south route.
In the mid-18th century, as European settlers and enslaved Africans entered the area, this north-south route took on the name of the Carolina Road. Colonists flooded into the port of Philadelphia, turned west, and eventually followed the road south through Maryland, Virginia, and into the Carolinas. Thousands passed this way, particularly Germans, Scots-Irish, and Quakers seeking land to the south. Later, during the Revolutionary War, soldiers of the Continental Army used this route to reinforce General Lafayette in 1781.
By the mid-19th century, the Carolina Road was a major commercial artery through the mid-Atlantic and upper south. It was around this time that the Mt. Zion Old School Baptist Church was established at the crossroads here. The church was still relatively new when the community was torn apart by Civil War. At various points in the conflict, the church was used as a hospital, barracks, and prison, and soldier’s graffiti can be still be seen on the walls inside.
Highway modernization has altered this historic crossroads significantly, although Rt. 15 still follows much of the Old Carolina Road. Portions of the historic road bed can still be seen here at Mt. Zion Park. To learn more and find the cache, answer the following questions.
All of the answers can be found by exploring the grounds. You do not need to enter the building.
A = The number of members from the Little River Baptist Church who formed the church here DIVIDED BY the number of inscribed African-American gravestones
B = The number of entrances to the church PLUS the number of War of 1812 veterans buried here
C = The number of Confederate soldiers buried here MINUS the number of Union soldiers who have markers in the cemetery
D = The number of the New York Cavalry Regiment who fought against Mosby's Rangers here in 1864 (ie the __th NY) MINUS the date in July, 1864 when they fought here
E = The date in June, 1863 when Alfred Waud buried his friend MINUS 20
F = The number of years between the construction of the church and the first burial in the cemetery
The cache is located at N 38° 57.ABC W 077° 36.DEF
Checksum is 24.
Please seek the cache during daylight hours only. Permission to place the cache has been granted by NOVA Parks.
VPHA’s mission is to educate and advocate for the preservation of the extraordinary historic landscape and culture of the Virginia Piedmont Heritage Area for future generations. The Area includes all or parts of five counties in the northern Virginia Piedmont and lower Shenandoah Valley: Loudoun, Fauquier, Clarke, Prince William, and Warren Counties.
By telling our stories, we hope to inspire people to care for and protect our outstanding historical resources.