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
Camp Strawderman
In 1929 Margaret Vance Hoffman opened Camp Strawderman on a plot of land located west of Woodstock, along Stoney Creek, in the Wolf’s Gap community. This land, originally owned by the Strwderman…
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…
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
Burner's Resort
In 1850 Noah Burner, a native of Fort Valley, built a resort on this location. Known as either Burner’s Sulphur Springs or Shenandoah Springs, it was known for its hospitable welcomes, blazing fires, and delicious food.
The true attraction though…
St. John Bosco Catholic Church
St. John’s Bosco is a product of the influx of Irish immigrants who came to Shenandoah County in the mid to late 19th century to work on the local railroads. Two of these individuals, Michael Geary and Patrick Reiley, organized and built the original…
Old Frontier Tavern and Distillery
This structure was built around 1755 and was the home of the Hupp family who were some of the earliest European immigrants into the Shenandoah Valley. It was built to provide protection from possible Native American incursions and other hostile…
St. James Lutheran Church
St. James Lutheran Church can trace its history to 1842, when Lutheran, Reformed, and Methodist worshipers in the area met at a log church at Hudson’s Crossroads. Over the next four decades each of these congregations were able to acquire their own…
St. Luke School
The first school in the St. Luke community dates to before 1841. That year the school building, and a parcel of land, was deeded to a group of school trustees who agreed to use the building and land as a Union Church and school.
This original…
Walton and Smoot Drug Store
Sometime in the 1880s Lin Irwin's Drug Store opened on the first floor of the Irwin Opera House located at the corner of Main and Court Street in Woodstock.
In 1906 Clyde E. Walton and Dr. James H. Smoot purchased the drug store and changed the…