Historical Highway Markers

Wreck of the Old 97

Q-5-b

Here, on September 27, 1903, occurred the railroad wreck that inspired the popular ballad, "The Wreck of the Old 97." The southbound mail express train on the Southern Railroad left the tracks on a trestle and plunged into the ravine below. Nine persons were killed and seven injured, one of the worst train wrecks in Virginia history.

Virginia Conservation Commission, 1947

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