Hiking along roads was a common experience for hikers on the early versions of the Appalachian Trail, with as much as 40 percent of the original route of the trail being along roads when the trail was first declared completed in 1937. The use of roads, either those in use or those that had fallen out of use and were fading back into the forests, was especially common on the section of the Appalachian Trail between Glenvar, Virginia (near Roanoke) and Dixon's Ferry on the New River. This photograph shows a typical section of one of those roads in southern Floyd County, between the Haycocks and Tuggle's Gap, and offers a good sense for what hikers experienced as they walked through Southwestern Virginia.

The now abandoned Thompson's Store sits in a sharp bend in the road near the summit of Pumpkin Stem Knob ("Extraordinary view; should not be missed"). As the images indicate, the store is now completely overgrown and has been used as a place to dump unused construction materials. When the Appalachian Trail passed by the store on county route 619, it was the second place south of Poor Mountain where southbound hikers could re-provision right on the trail.

A view of the town of Fries, Virginia, in March 1911. The photographer Lewis Wickes Hine visited Fries that year to document the working conditions in the Washington Mill, visible in the left margin of the photograph. The flat bottomed river boat in the foreground is a typical example of the kind of boat used along the New River, including at Dixon's Ferry where Appalachian Trail hikers crossed the river on their way north or south until 1952.

Hikers on the Appalachian Trail headed northbound reached the New River at Byllesby Dam, one of several hydroelectric dams built by the Appalachian Power Company in the early 20th century. Byllesby Dam was completed in 1912, and continues in operation today. From the dam, hikers turned south (upstream) along the river, roughly following the railroad line that ended at the town of Fries, site of another of the Appalachian Power Company dams. Just before reaching Fries, hikers turned aside to Dixon's Ferry, where they took a flat bottomed ferry boat across the river and then headed up the ridge toward the town of Galax.

A description of the Myron Avery's first inspection trip of the Appalachian Trail in Floyd County in January 1932. This story from the Floyd News describes Avery's trip with Shirley and Earnest Cole that began on New Year's Day 1932.

A news item in the Floyd News (Floyd, VA) about a planned hike by local Boy Scouts on the Appalachian Trail in Floyd County.

John Barnard with a memorial he made to the local Native Americans who lived in the Dan River gorge. According to his grandson, Barnard cast the concrete in sand and then added artifacts he had found in the gorge over the years.

From the reverse: The Little Falls of Dan, one mile north of Pinnacles of Dan. The fall here of Dan River is 90 or 100 ft. The River here flowing through the great crevice of rock and around huge boulders at a tremendous rapid rate which is interesting to observe and very beautiful. Frank Cox in picture.

The Washington Mill in Fries, Virginia, photographed by Lewis Wickes Hine in May 1910, just upstream from where the Appalachian Trail crossed the New River at Dixon's Ferry. The mill provided employment to almost everyone in the town of Fries and many others living nearby. When the mill closed in 1989, it still employed 1,700 people. Today only the dam remains and is owned by a Swedish company. The mill itself was scraped off in the early 2000s. Text added by the photographer reads, "Housing conditions are fairly good, but housekeeping not very good. Working very good. Good light, fresh air."

This photograph of a hiker in the Dan River Gorge near the Pinnacles of Dan in 1931 is part of a collection of glass lantern slides held by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy archives. These slides were created in the 1930s to be used for promotional talks about the Appalachian Trail as part of the ATC's efforts to increase the visibility and use of the trail.

The Hotel Mons was the resort hotel located in the Peaks of Otter recreation area near Bedford, Virginia. The original route of the Appalachian Trail in Southwestern Virginia began at the Hotel Mons and turned immediately south, swinging southwest of Roanoke through northern Franklin County, and from there across Bent Mountain into Floyd County. When the Blue Ridge Parkway was constructed in the mid-1930s, the Mons became part of the new National Park and was eventually torn down by the National Park Service. The trail now passes to the west of the Peaks of Otter.

The Graysville Store in Copper Hill, Virginia in 2019. This store, now abandoned, was an important stop for hikers on the Appalachian Trail between Bent Mountain and Floyd, Virginia. The store owner provided both rental accommodations for hikers and, if they preferred, allowed them to set up their tents in the yard behind the store.