Chester Gap, VA

Chester Gap is a small community split between Rappahannock and Warren Counties, named for the wind gap that opens through the Blue Ridge at this point. The name gives away the local geography: Chester Gap is a settlement defined by a passage in the mountains, not a town laid out around a big commercial center. Roads through the gap connect the two-county landscape, while the surrounding ridges give the CDP its shape. This is a Virginia mountain community whose identity is right there in the name—one opening through the ridge, two counties on either side.