Throughout the county’s history communities have been conducting parades and festivals. One type of this event was the ever popular May Day. Traditionally held on May 1st, this festival dates to early European efforts to celebrate the start of…

Mt. Zion Lutheran Church, lovingly called the “beautiful church on the hilltop,” dates to 1829 when Abraham Smutz and his family sold a parcel of land to a group of church trustees. This land contained a house that the deed required to be used as a…

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…

In 1929 the Edinburg Fire Company was formed to provide fire protection to the citizens of Edinburg and the surrounding communities. This was not the first time Edinburg had fire protection. Much earlier the town had operated both a ladder wagon…

As part of his 1864 campaign, Union General Ulysses S. Grant ordered Federal forces under General Franz Sigel to march through the Shenandoah Valley and destroy the railroad and Confederate Army’s base of supplies. This 9,000 man force began to…

Dry Run Christian Church was born around 1841, when a small congregation began meeting at the Union Church at Dry Run in Fort Valley. In 1879 this congregation joined the American Christian Church which followed the tenants that Christ was the head…