Montgomery County road orders 1777-1806

Summary: The road history projects undertaken by the Virginia Transportation Research Council establish the feasibility of studies of early road networks and their use in the environmental review process. These projects, by gathering and publishing the early road orders of the vast parent counties, also lay the foundation for additional research by local groups over a broad area of Virginia. This volume marks the 26th entry in the Historic Roads of Virginia series, first initiated by the Virginia Transportation Research Council (then the Virginia Highway & Transportation Research Council) in 1973. Montgomery County Road Orders 1773-1776 is the second cooperative effort of the Virginia Transportation Research Council and the New River Historical Society (following Fincastle County Road Orders 1773-1776, which was published in 2007). This volume furthers the coverage of early western Virginia transportation records begun in the previously published Orange County Road Orders 1734-1749, Augusta County Road Orders 1745-1769, Botetourt County Road Orders 1770-1778, and Fincastle County Road Orders 1773-1776. This project covers the first three decades of Montgomery County's existence, during which time the county covered much of present day southwest Virginia. This information will eliminate the need for further research into the early Montgomery County road order records. If questions arise about early roads once a VDOT road improvement project is already underway (or nearly underway), primary historical research of this nature can take 6 to 12 months to complete. Therefore, this study can be a source of potentially significant cost savings for VDOT, including the avoided costs of project delays and avoided consultant costs for cultural resource studies should questions arise.