The old route of the Appalachian Trail in Southwestern Virginia crossed Smith Mountain in northeastern Floyd County. This image shows the view of Cahas Knob in Franklin County to the east of the trail and is taken on the summit of Smith Mountain.

The photograph is one of dozens taken by ATC Chairman Myron Avery during an inspection tour of the trail in Southwestern Virginia in 1932, a tour he made with Shirley Cole, the county agent in Floyd County and the person tasked with overseeing the trail in this part of the state.

The view north and east from a point along the old route of the Appalachian Trail approximately two miles south of Sling's Gap.

The man in the photograph is Shirley L. Cole, the County Agent in Floyd County, and the original overseer of the Appalachian Trail in Southwestern Virginia. The photograph is from ATC Chairman Myron Avery's personal scrapbooks and was taken during one of several scouting expeditions he took with Cole in the region between 1930-1932.

The text of a scouting report laying out a potential route for the Appalachian Trail in Southwestern Virginia between Roanoke, Virginia and Roaring Gap, North Carolina. This report was sent to the Appalachian Trail Conference headquarters by Donald Campbell of Mount Airy, NC, and Shirley L. Cole, the county agent in Floyd, VA. It became the basis for the route of the trail between the Peaks of Otter north or Roanoke and the New River just west of Galax, VA.

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.

Shirley L. Cole (right) and his brother Ernest (left) was the County Agent in Floyd County, Virginia and the founder of the Southern Virginia Appalachian Trail Association that marked, cut, and graded the first version of the Appalachian Trail in Southwestern Virginia in 1930. Cockram Ridge is along the route of the AT between Meadows of Dan and the Pinnacles of Dan. Photograph by ATC Chairman Myron Avery.

This panoramic image of Lover's Leap in Patrick County, Virginia, is compiled from three photographs taken by ATC Chairman Myron Avery during a hike on the Appalachian Trail in Southern Virginia in January 1932. Avery was scouting the new route of the Trail in this region with local Appalachian Trail leader Shirley L. Cole and his brother Earnest.