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
Shenandoah County Fair
In 1886 a group of local businessmen, farmers, and community leaders banded together to form the Shenandoah County Agricultural Society. This organization was designed to promote the area’s…
Emanuel Lutheran Church
The first Lutheran Church in Woodstock predated the arrival of the town’s founder Jacob Mueller. Local German residents had felt the need for a place to practice their Lutheran faith and had therefore…
Shenandoah County Memorial Hospital
On September 16, 1951 the Shenandoah County Memorial Hospital was dedicated in Woodstock Virginia. This was the result of a massive fundraising campaign that lasted just over five years.
Prior to…
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
Strasburg Christian Church
During the early part of the 19th century traveling ministers of the Church of Christ visited towns in Shenandoah County. As early as 1808 records indicate residents of Strasburg were meeting to hear these individuals. In 1820 enough members of the…
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…
Stroop's Snake and Alligator Farm
In 1927 Snoop’s Snake Farm opened two miles south of Edinburg in the small community of Bowman’s Crossing. Though we know little about the site, early advertisements indicated the site featured four types of poisonous snakes and several alligators.…
Elizabeth Furnace
In 1836 this area had been home to Elizabeth Iron Furnace. This was one of many small iron producing furnaces that existed throughout Fort Valley and Shenandoah County.
Elizabeth utilized the power provided by waters of Passage Creek. Initially…
Mt. Jackson "Colored" Church
Sometime after the Civil War Mt. Jackson's African American population banded together to form a Methodist Church. During the period local churches were segregated by race and the town’s African Americans needed a church to meet their spiritual…
Shenandoah Valley Academy
In 1905 Charles D. Zirkle, who was on his deathbed, donated 45 acres of his property to the Virginia Conference of Seven Day Adventist to build a school. Two years later construction began on the main building of what was then the New Market Academy.…