Hillsboro Gap, also known as the Gap in the Short Hill is a

water gap A water gap is a gap that flowing water has carved through a mountain range or mountain ridge and that still carries water today. Such gaps that no longer carry water currents are called wind gaps. Water gaps and wind gaps often offer a prac ...

in the

Short Hill Mountain Short Hill Mountain is a mountain ridge of the Blue Ridge Mountains in northwest Loudoun County, Virginia. Geography Short Hill rises sharply from the Piedmont countryside of the Loudoun Valley, northwest of Purcellville. It is a low-lying ridg ...

formed by the North Fork of the Catoctin Creek in

Loudoun County, Virginia Loudoun County () is in the northern part of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. In 2020, the census returned a population of 420,959, making it Virginia's third-most populous county. Loudoun County's seat is Leesburg. Loudoun C ...

. The gap derives its name from the town of Hillsboro, which is nestled in the gap.

Virginia State Route 9 Virginia State Route 9 (SR 9) is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of Virginia. Known as Charles Town Pike, the state highway runs from the West Virginia state line near Mechanicsville, where the highway continues west as West Virgini ...

passes through the gap in the town. In colonial times the main road between

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

and

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

, Vestal's Gap Road, passed through the gap. That road eventually became the Charles Town Pike and modern day Route 9. The gap poses a substantial barrier to the widening of the congested road as the historic town completely fills the gap and as such Route 9 would have to be routed around or over the Short Hill Mountain to be widened.

References

*Scheel, Eugene. ''Loudoun Discovered: Communities, Corners and Crossroads.'' Vol. 5, 2002, pp. 28–30. {{Gaps of the Appalachian Mountains Water gaps of Virginia Blue Ridge Mountains Landforms of Loudoun County, Virginia