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
Bowman Apple Products Plant
In the summer of 1939 Charles Bowman, a Mt. Jackson Orchard Owner, and his two sons Gordon and Courtland traveled to New York State to purchase the bankrupt Gilbert Apple Products plant just north of…
Maurertown Brethren Church
The history of the Maurertown Brethren Church begins in 1885 when the Shiloh Brethren Church was founded by E.B. Shaver. He, and others, split from the Valley Pike Church of the Brethren and sought to…
Columbia Furnace Stables
Columbia Furnace Stables are one of the original buildings associated with that industrial complex. Though the exact date when they were built is unrecorded, architectural evidence and oral history…
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
Dorothy's Inn
Sometime during the first decades of the 20th century, this rubble-style building was constructed overlooking the Shenandoah River just south of what is now called the “Narrow Passage.”
The early history of this site is not well known. Some…
New Market School
In the winter of 1903, a two-story, slate building was completed to house the students of New Market High School. At last, an institution established in 1870 by Professor E.A. Luster was receiving its own building dedicated to graded and high school…
Columbia Furnace School
In the spring 1934 a serious fire destroyed a large portion of the Columbia Furnace School which dated to 1911. The Shenandoah County School Board made the decision to replace the damaged structure with an entirely new building.
This school house…
St. David's Lutheran Church
In 1816 the Reverend Paul Henkel, a notable Lutheran minister in the valley, noted Lutheran residents of Fort Valley formed their own independent congregation. Their meeting house stood on land donated by Jacob Golladay near the mountain road.…
Rockdale Lime Quarry
The first Lime Kiln was built in Toms Brook by Mr. C.W. Jones, O. Hawkins, and H.W. Scott in 1884. This enterprise eventually fell under the management of Mr. M.L. Bauserman of Toms Brook.
This company quarried limestone from one of several…
Woodstock Presbtyerian Church
In 1822 the Rev. William H. Foote, a Presbyterian, began preaching in Shenandoah County. He noted that when he arrived there were three members of that denomination in the county, one in Woodstock and two in Strasburg.
That number would grow…