Turner's Gap is a

wind gap A wind gap (or air gap) is a gap through which a waterway once flowed that is now dry as a result of stream capture. A water gap is a similar feature, but one in which a waterway still flows. Water gaps and wind gaps often provide routes which ...

in the South Mountain Range of the

Blue Ridge Mountains The Blue Ridge Mountains are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains range. The mountain range is located in the Eastern United States, and extends 550 miles southwest from southern Pennsylvania through Maryland, West Virgin ...

, located in Frederick County and Washington County,

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. The gap is traversed by

U.S. Route 40 Alternate U.S. Route 40 has at least eight extant special routes. Current routes WaKeeney business loop U.S. Route 40 Business (US-40 Bus.) is a business route through WaKeeney, Kansas, that was recommended in 1979 as substitute for the formerly pro ...

, the old

National Pike The National Road (also known as the Cumberland Road) was the first major improved highway in the United States built by the federal government. Built between 1811 and 1837, the road connected the Potomac and Ohio Rivers and was a main tran ...

. The

Appalachian Trail The Appalachian Trail (also called the A.T.), is a hiking trail in the Eastern United States, extending almost between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine, and passing through 14 states.Gailey, Chris (2006)"Appalachian Tr ...

also crosses the gap along the ridgeline.

Geography

The gap is below the ridgeline to the south, below the ridgeline to the south and above the surrounding lowlands. To the east of the gap lies the

Middletown Valley Middletown Valley, also historically known as Catoctin Valley, is a valley in western Frederick County in the state of Maryland. Geography It is bound to the west by South Mountain, to the east by Catoctin Mountain, to the south by the Potomac ...

and to the west the

Hagerstown Valley Hagerstown Valley is located in Maryland in the United States. It is part of the Great Appalachian Valley, which continues northward as Cumberland Valley in Pennsylvania, and southward as Shenandoah Valley in West Virginia and Virginia. Hagerstown ...

Fox's Gap Fox's Gap, also known as Fox Gap, is a wind gap in the South Mountain Range of the Blue Ridge Mountains, located in Frederick County and Washington County, Maryland. The gap is traversed by Reno Monument Road. The Appalachian Trail also cross ...

is to the south.

History

The Old South Mountain Inn and Dahlgren Chapel are located at Turner's Gap. The first road through Turner's Gap was created in 1756 as the Road from Frederick to Fort Frederick that connected the town of Frederick with the new fort built as a result of Braddock's Defeat in 1755. A land tract named Flonham patented on April 20, 1774, by Philip Jacob Shafer includes the immediate area near the Mountain House. Frederick Fox patented a land tract named Addition to Friendship on May 27, 1805. The tract stretches from Turner's Gap to Fox's Gap and consists of approximately 95 acres at Turner's Gap and 95 acres at Fox's Gap with 12 acres connecting the two larger segments. The connecting land became the path of the Wood Road and is today the path of the Appalachian Trail between Fox's and Turner's Gaps.Older, Curtis L., ''The Land Tracts of the Battlefield of South Mountain'', Heritage Books, Inc., ISBN 1-58549-066-0. Turner's Gap was the scene of heavy fighting during the

Battle of South Mountain The Battle of South Mountain—known in several early Southern accounts as the Battle of Boonsboro Gap—was fought on September 14, 1862, as part of the Maryland campaign of the American Civil War. Three pitched battles were fought for posses ...

in September 1862 during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. The area is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

as part of the

Turner's and Fox's Gaps Historic District The Turner's and Fox's Gaps Historic District comprises the Civil War-era battlefield involved in the Battle of South Mountain, which took place on September 14, 1862. The district extends on the west to the slopes of South Mountain in the are ...

References

{{Gaps of the Appalachian Mountains Valleys of Maryland Wind gaps of the United States South Mountain Range (Maryland−Pennsylvania) Landforms of Frederick County, Maryland Landforms of Washington County, Maryland Appalachian Trail