The ‘holler’ or ‘hollow’ is ubiquitous in the mountains of SW Virginia. These networks of narrow valleys between ridges form a central organizing principle in human settlement and are often associated with coal mining. In order to avoid going up and down the mountains, railroads (and later on, roads) followed the contours of the river bank and to this day allow for the export of coal from the Appalachian coalfields.

Lines of ‘deforestation’ allow for electrical transmission lines to traverse the mountain ridges of SW Virginia. These long, impossibly straight scars cut across the landscape and mark an interruption in the pattern of native forest and rolling hills.

This split-rail fence is one of many fence types seen along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Base and stair at shelter entrance

Shelter roof structure

Rocky Knob Shelter

View of overlapping roof segments of the framers market shelter in Blacksburg

As documented in Visual Character of the Blue Ridge Parkway (U.S. Dept of the Interior/NPS), this shelter was the first building constructed on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It is “constructed of exposed heavy, square chestnut timbers erected on a base of horizontally laid stone. The floor is flagstone. The roof is made of hand-split oak shakes on exposed wood purlins. The building is a good example of early rustic park architecture.”

Detail of joint at farmers market timber structure