Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1882-07-09
New Route to New York.

The opening of new route between
New York and the great Southwest would
be interesting and important under any cir
cumstances, but it is especially so if the
new route offers marked advantages in
scenery and comfort, with no loss in time.
Such is the beautiful and easy Shenandoah
Route" over which your correspondent has
just come. 1t takes its name from the ia
nous Shenandoah Valley, through which it
runs, leaving the Norfolk and Western Rail-
road at Roanoke Va, (near Salem), and
passing on through Port Republic, Luray,
Hagerstown, Nd, Harrisburg Pa, and
Philadelphia.
1t is one of the most beautiful and inter
esting over which we have ever travelled.
And Pullman sleeper, running regularly
between New York and Chattanooga, ena-
bles you to make the entire journey without
change, and with solid comfort. The road
is well ballasted with rock, and reasonably
smooth. 1t escapes entirely the dull flat
aess and sunny glare which make much of
the old route between Lynchburg and
| Washington SO disagreeable. 1t continues
the picturesque features of our own East
| Tennessee road, and of the Norfolk and
Western road, right through to Hagerstown,
with important additions and new combina-
| tons.
| Fertile farms, green woods, towering
mountain ranges and winding rivers are on
either hand. On theleft, coming South is the
Blue Ridge, now lying far off, and furnish
| ing beautiful border, fringed with cloud,
for the pictuture of loneliness that lies be-
| tween; and now, closing in upon you, and
| its peaks towering far above you towards
| the sky. On the other hand, the Shena u
doah Mountains furnish the background to
the scene, with, the blue peaks of the more
distant Alleghanies, here and there, peering
| over their shoulder, Part of the way the
road follows high level between the two
| ranges, from which you get lovely stretches
OF landscape on either hand. Then it de-
| sends into the valley, and follows the
graceful curves of the Shenandoah River,
and then of the James River, keeping the
panorama continually fresh and fine.
There are three river views, which are
especially to be noted; one at the crossing
of the Potomac, south of Sharpsburg; an
other at the crossing of the Shenandoah, at
the junction of its South and North Fork;
and the third at the crossing of the James.
For mingled valley and mountain scenery,
extensive landscapes, and bold and rugged
outlines, we do not know where the equal
of this route can be found unless it be in
Switzerland, and you cannot yet see the
beauty of that land from the window of a
Pullman Sleeper Or, if the Rocky Noun
tains should be suggested, even they are far
away. But this is at door. Historic
places, also, of Revolutionary and later
fame, add innterest to this line of travel
1t seemed to us thoroughly enjoyable,
and like bee which has found honey, we
wish to tell others of it. We would only
add that, for the present, a lunch basket
may be desirable, until time may be afforded
to locate the eating houses along the way.
Along the line the farmers are harvesting
what seems to be Il large crop of wheat.
The quiet air of the valley is beginning to
throb with the energy and activity of the
busy world. And at Roanoke an extensive
series of buildings is being rapidly erected
to accommodate the two roads which there
unite VIAToR,
July 7, 1882.