Swannanoa ... Afton Mountain mansion

Visitors leaving Shenandoah National Park on the Skyline Drive or meandering along the Blue Ridge Parkway toward Rockfish Gap at Afton Mountain may do a double-take as they catch a glimpse through the trees of white marble towers. Most have no idea of the grand mansion named Swannanoa that sits nearby.

The property, located just off I-64 between Waynesboro and Charlottesville, Virginia, at the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Augusta and Nelson counties, was the summer villa of Major James Dooley, a millionaire and philanthropist who also owned the Maymont mansion located on the James River in Richmond.