Shenandoah Stories
A project by Shenandoah County LibraryJoin us in our efforts to explore the history and culture of Shenandoah County Virginia through our web based tour platform Shenandoah Stories. Click a site on the map, select a tour, or view a random story to begin. Read more About Us
Featured Stories
Casey Jones/Woodstock Brew House
Starting in the 1920s, clothing and textile manufacturing became prominent industries in the Shenandoah Valley. One group that operated in the area was the Casey Jones Work-Clothes Company. They…
Mt. Zion Methodist Church
In 1868 the African American residents of Strasburg Virginia banded together to found Mt. Zion Methodist Church after being inspired by a series of travelling Methodist Missionaries that visited the…
Chapin and Sachs Manufacturing
Chapin and Sachs, sometimes known as Chapin and Sacks, Manufacturing opened a plant in Woodstock Virginia in 1910 following the purchase of the A.W. Nicodemus & Sons Creamery building on what is now…
Featured Tours
African Americans in Shenandoah County
13 Locations ~ Curated by Shenandoah County LibrarySpirits, Stills, and Temperance: Tracing the History of Alcohol in Shenandoah County
20 Locations ~ Curated by Shenandoah County LibraryFarms, Factories, and the Frontlines: Shenandoah County in the World Wars
10 Locations ~ Curated by The Shenandoah Stories TeamRandom Stories
Shannon Building
At the turn of the 20th century, C.M. Shannon of Mt. Jackson built this structure. On the first floor was his growing hardware business. On the second was his family’s living quarters.
During this period, the downtown communities in each of…
Mt. Jackson Colored Cemetery
Sometime after the Civil War, Levi Rinker of Mt. Jackson donated a plot of land to that town’s African American community to serve as their cemetery. Later, an additional lot owned by Amanda Thorpe was also deeded to the cemetery.
This separate…
Carriage Factory
Located next to the Deary Tavern, this two-story building was built in 1855. It is constructed with wooden weatherboarding on the outside, a heavy embossed metal on the inside, and a layer of brick in between. The building was first owned by Henry…
Sunset Hill School
The first school for Strasburg’s African American population was called the Queen Street School and was located at the end of West Queen Street.
That building housed grades 1-7 until 1929 when it burned. A new school, called Sunset Hill Colored…
Thomas Hudson House
The Thomas Hudson House was constructed ca. 1790. It is located north east of the small community of Hudsons Crossroads.
This house is one of the best surviving examples of Germanic stone construction in Shenandoah County. It was built atop a…
Woodstock "Colored School," 1867-1937
Between 1867 and 1937 a school for Woodstock’s African American population was held on this property.
In 1865 the Freedman’s Bureau, a Federal Agency, opened the “Lincoln School” in Woodstock for African American Students. The location of that…