---
template: byway.jade
id: "12817"
name: Drovers Road
distance: "10"
duration: 20 minutes
description: "Many farmers drove their flocks to market through Hickory Nut Gap, thus this byway gets its name."
path: 
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designations: 
  - North Carolina State Scenic Byway
states: 
  - NC
ll: 
  - -82.39794572583811
  - 35.515132861594424
bounds: 
  - - -82.40453525998629
    - 35.45151100000004
  - - -82.28711699999991
    - 35.521557838279925

---

As a passageway for marketbound farmers, Drovers Road was a place that early eastern settlers "drove" their flocks and livestock through.  
  
Drovers Road remains a unique site today passing through Hickory Nut Gap. This is one of the only two gaps in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and visitors are sure to see some of the highest peaks in North Carolina along this route. The area is covered in trees, and in the spring and early summer the hillsides are sprinkled with flowering trillium and mountain laurel.  
  
Not only is the surrounding area of the byway full of natural beauty, but the area carries a history as well. Before Hickory Nut Gap was known by its current name, it was Sherrill's Gap. Between 1834 and 1909 the Sherrill inn and tavern was a stop for drovers, travelers, and soldiers.
