Description
Many Virginians recognize the name of Claudius Crozet, chief engineer for the Blue Ridge Tunnel at Rockfish Gap, Virginia, but most people are unaware that the tunnel was built by fifty Irish boys, one hundred enslaved Virginians, and fifteen hundred Irish men. Dark Passage, a book for young readers, will employ real-life characters to tell their stories. Dark Passage also introduces youngsters to historical developments that impacted the construction project, such as Ireland's Great Hunger, the Fugitive Slave Law, and the rise of the Know Nothing party. Archaeological surveys near the tunnel in Nelson County and at a possible shanty town in Albemarle County, photographs of these explorations, interviews with archaeologists, and sidebar texts match the theme of each chapter.
