State Route 53 (SR 53) is a primary

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either Route number, numbered or maintained by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered ...

in the U.S. state of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

. Known as Thomas Jefferson Parkway, the state highway runs from SR 20 near

Charlottesville Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in Virginia, United States. It is the seat of government of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Quee ...

east to

U.S. Route 15 U.S. Route 15 or U.S. Highway 15 (US 15) is a United States Numbered Highway, serving the states of South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New York. The route is signed north–south, from US ...

(US 15) in

Palmyra Palmyra ( ; Palmyrene dialect, Palmyrene: (), romanized: ''Tadmor''; ) is an ancient city in central Syria. It is located in the eastern part of the Levant, and archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first menti ...

. SR 53 connects the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

s of Albemarle and Fluvanna counties. The state highway also provides access to the community of Lake Monticello and

Monticello Monticello ( ) was the primary residence and plantation of Thomas Jefferson, a Founding Father, author of the Declaration of Independence, and the third president of the United States. Jefferson began designing Monticello after inheriting l ...

, the estate of

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

. The route of SR 53 became a state highway in 1930; the highway receives its present designation in 1947.

Route description

SR 53 begins at an intersection with SR 20 (Scottsville Road) a short distance south of SR 20's interchange with

Interstate 64 Interstate 64 (I-64) is an east–west Interstate Highway in the Eastern United States. Its western terminus is at Interstate 70, I-70, U.S. Route 40 (US 40), and U.S. Route 61, US 61 in Wentzville, Missouri. Its eastern ter ...

in Albemarle County just south of the

independent city An independent city or independent town is a city or town that does not form part of another general-purpose local government entity (such as a province). Historical precursors In the Holy Roman Empire, and to a degree in its successor states ...

of Charlottesville. The state highway heads east and begins to ascend Carters Mountain, which is part of the

Southwest Mountains The Southwest Mountains of Virginia are a mountain range centered on Charlottesville, parallel to and geologically associated with the Blue Ridge Mountains, which lie about 30 miles (50 km) to the west. The range is breached by the Rivann ...

. Just west of

Michie Tavern Michie Tavern (pronounced ), located in Albemarle County, Virginia, is a Virginia Historic Landmark that was established in 1784 by Scotsman William Michie, though in Earlysville. The Tavern served as the social center of its community and prov ...

, SR 53 winds as it continues to its summit between Monticello to the east and Montalto, also known as the Mountaintop Farm and Patterson Mountain, to the west. A two-way ramp connects SR 53 with the Monticello access road, which passes over the state highway. SR 53 has a few more curves as it descends the mountain to the hamlet of

Simeon Simeon () is a given name, from the Hebrew (Biblical Hebrew, Biblical ''Šimʿon'', Tiberian vocalization, Tiberian ''Šimʿôn''), usually transliterated in English as Shimon. In Greek, it is written Συμεών, hence the Latinized spelling Sy ...

, where the highway intersects SR 795 (James Monroe Parkway). SR 795 leads south to the estate of

James Monroe James Monroe ( ; April 28, 1758July 4, 1831) was an American Founding Father of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fifth president of the United States from 1817 to 1825. He was the last Founding Father to serve as presiden ...

, Ashlawn-Highland. SR 53 crosses Buck Island Creek near its confluence with the

Rivanna River The Rivanna River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 tributary of the James River in central Virginia in the United States. The Rivanna's tributaries o ...

before entering Fluvanna County. The state highway passes along the western edge of the suburban resort community of Lake Monticello, which is centered around the lake of the same name. The state highway reaches its eastern terminus at US 15 (James Madison Highway) just south of the U.S. Highway's crossing of the Rivanna River in Palmyra, the

History

A small piece of SR 53, from the west end at SR 20 towards

, was added to the state highway system in 1930 (along with SR 20 north to Charlottesville) as State Route 714; it became State Route 239 in the 1933 renumbering. In 1941,

State Route 20 Route 20, or Highway 20, may refer to: International * European route E20 Australia * Sturt Highway (NSW/VIC/SA) * Yarra Bank Highway Brazil * BR-020 Canada * Alberta Highway 20 * British Columbia Highway 20 * Manitoba Highway 20 *New Br ...

was extended north from Scottsville to Charlottesville via Blenheim and Overton, absorbing SR 239. SR 20 was shifted west to its current alignment in 1947; at the same time, current SR 53 was upgraded from State Route 642, and a short piece of old SR 20 became SR 53.

Major intersections

References

External links

Virginia Highways Project: VA 53
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053 53 may refer to: * 53 (number) * one of the years 53 BC, AD 53, 1953, 2053 * FiftyThree, an American privately held technology company that specializes in tools for mobile creation and visual thinking * 53rd Regiment Alabama Cavalry * 53rd Regiment ...

State Route 053 State Route 053