Luxury Afton VA Homes For Sale
291 SADDLEBACK FARM AFTON, Virginia
2 Beds 3 Baths 3,628 SqFt 5 Acres
7847 ROCKFISH VALLEY HWY AFTON, Virginia
10 Beds 10 Baths 5,916 SqFt 1.830 Acres
8233 BATESVILLE RD AFTON, Virginia
3 Beds 1 Baths 1,556 SqFt 123.130 Acres
Recently Sold Luxury Afton VA Homes
3A GOODLOE LN AFTON, Virginia
4 Beds 3.5 Baths 3,678 SqFt 2.070 Acres
1900 THUNDER RIDGE RD AFTON, Virginia
4 Beds 2.5 Baths 2,641 SqFt 23.150 Acres
6933 WISHING MEADOW LN AFTON, Virginia
5 Beds 3 Baths 3,852 SqFt 2 Acres
5725 TAYLOR CREEK RD AFTON, Virginia
3 Beds 2.5 Baths 2,800 SqFt 74.500 Acres
170 HATTIES LN AFTON, Virginia
4 Beds 3 Baths 2,850 SqFt 4.100 Acres
153 ORCHARD PL AFTON, Virginia
4 Beds 4.5 Baths 3,773 SqFt 11.520 Acres
8200 DICK WOODS RD AFTON, Virginia
5 Beds 4 Baths 5,793 SqFt 8.670 Acres
1562 AFTON MOUNTAIN RD AFTON, Virginia
6 Beds 6 Baths 3,670 SqFt 21.290 Acres
6933 WISHING MEADOW LN AFTON, Virginia
5 Beds 3 Baths 3,852 SqFt 2 Acres
503 BLAND WADE LN AFTON, Virginia
2 Beds 2.5 Baths 4,488 SqFt 9.130 Acres
9051 DICK WOODS RD AFTON, Virginia
5 Beds 5.5 Baths 3,738 SqFt 4.870 Acres
10273 ROCKFISH VALLEY HWY AFTON, Virginia
6 Beds 6.5 Baths 4,210 SqFt 9.640 Acres
8088 DICK WOODS RD AFTON, Virginia
1 Baths 542 SqFt 92.670 Acres
578 ELK MOUNTAIN RD AFTON, Virginia
3 Beds 2.5 Baths 3,621 SqFt 3 Acres
818 ENNIS MOUNTAIN RD AFTON, Virginia
4 Beds 4 Baths 5,311 SqFt 30 Acres
7777 DICK WOODS RD AFTON, Virginia
5 Beds 4.5 Baths 5,226 SqFt 277.520 Acres
History of Afton Virginia
The naming of Afton, Virginia, was most likely influenced by the river Afton, a small river in Scotland. Robert Burn wrote a poem in 1791 about the river Afton called Sweet Afton, and this poem helped popularize the naming of this mountaintop town.
How lofty, sweet Afton, thy neighboring hills
Far mark’d with the courses of clear winding rills
How pleasant thy banks and green valleys below
Where, wild in the woodlands, the primroses blow
In June 1781, the Virginia General Assembly flees through Rockfish Gap to Staunton to escape capture by Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton and his British Dragoons.
Between August 1-4, 1818, the location of Central College (the current University of Virginia) is decided at the Rockfish Gap Tavern.
Former presidents Jefferson and Madison and President Monroe along with other dignitaries meet at the Rockfish Gap Tavern and are among those appointed to decide whether the school will be in Lexington, Staunton, or Charlottesville.
In 1837, Andrew Stephenson, American ambassador to the Court of James and Albemarle County native, presented Queen Victoria with a basket of Albemarle pippins. The queen exempts Virginia apples from import duties and Afton goes into its boom period.
1849, Claudius Crozet proposed four tunnels for a new rail line connecting the Mechums River in Albemarle County to Waynesboro in Augusta County.
Christmas Day, 1856, miners digging the Blue Ridge Tunnel from opposite sides of Afton Mountain ‘hole through’ after eight exhausting years. On April 13, 1858, The Blue Ridge Tunnel opened, beginning nearly 90 years of service.
April 1859, the village of Afton, Virginia, was established. Claudius Crozet’s miraculous construction of the Blue Ridge Tunnel linking Augusta and Albemarle Counties was the longest of its time and was primarily constructed by Scots-Irish immigrants who crossed at Rockfish Gap to settle the eastern slopes of the Blue Ridge Mountains who had settled in the mid-1740s.
1861-1865, Union and Confederate forces vie to deny each other use of the Virginia Central Railroad, a vital link between the Shenandoah Valley and Richmond. The train depot is torched; most of the track is destroyed and the railroad is left bankrupt by the end of the Civil War.
September 17, 1865, General Robert E. Lee spends the night at the expanded inn, renamed the Mountain Top Inn. He is on his way to Lexington after being invited to become the president of Washington College.
In 1869, the wonderful Afton House was built to accommodate summer visitors fleeing yellow fever in the nearby cities.
In 1867-1888, transcontinental railroad magnate Collis P. Huntington incorporated the Virginia Central into his company but lost control when it went into receivership. The reorganized railway financed with Morgan and Vanderbilt money is renamed The Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Company, with Melvin Ingalls as president. West Virginia coalfields are opened.
On April 4th, 1909, a fire destroys the Mountain Top Inn leaving only the stone walls of the original inn.
Swannanoa, the lavish Italianate mansion atop Afton, was completed in 1913 and soon thereafter Royal Orchard, an imposing granite castle owned by the Scott family, was built.
Construction began on the Blue Ridge Parkway by the CCC on September 11th, 1935.
By the turn of the 20th century, the village of Afton was self-supporting with coopers providing barrels to the local orchards, support staff at the hotel, several general merchants, blacksmiths, and those performing repair work, all in addition to orchard and farm work, and a variety of railroad jobs.
Afton’s horizon continued to shine brightly for many decades.
Two distinctive mountaintop mansions were built nearby.
All the automobile and truck traffic across the mountain continued to pass through the village for the next 40+ years, and service stations and garages were established to accommodate the traveling public’s needs.
1948, Howard Johnson’s opens on Afton. The restaurant was later joined by Holiday Inn, now Inn at Afton. None remain open today.
December 22, 1972, Interstate 64 across Afton Mountain opens, and Waynesboro and Augusta County begin to flourish.
Today, Afton Mountain is the entry to the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Shenandoah National Park.
The Appalachian Trail, Route 250, and I-64 cross at Rockfish Gap with scenic overlooks that provide a sweeping view into the Rockfish Valley and offer wonderful orchards and vineyards.