Around 1803, the Pennybacker family constructed Columbia Furnace along Stoney Creek west of Edinburg. Additional lands were added in 1808 and the company was sold to John Arthur & Co. It was later owned by the Newman family, who operated it during…

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…

The Smith Creek Baptist Church was formed on August 6, 1756. The area that is now known as New Market was called Crossroads because it was at the intersection of the area’s major north-south and east-west roads. A community had emerged around this…

From it’s founding in the mid-1770s, the Orkney Springs community has been welcoming visitors. Surrounding it was a plethora of springs that reportedly had healing powers. People from around the country flocked to the area to find a cure to their…

On March 30, 1786 Methodist members of the community now called Mt. Jackson purchased a one acre plot of land near Red Banks for five shillings. Eventually they built a church called Bethel Ford Methodist Meeting House on this site. Over time,…

Between 1734 John Caspar Stoever Jr., the first German Lutheran Minister in Virginia, made seven trips through the Shenandoah Valley to baptize individuals and organize churches. He, and his successor George Klug, must have been extremely successful…