Shenandoah Stories

Join 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

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This structure was built around 1749 by Jacob Rinker, an immigrant. The building tops a spring and was most likely designed to protect residents from Native American war parties who were fighting European encroachment. Rinker’s son, also named Jacob,…

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…

During the late 19th century, this was the site of Wisman and Dellinger, dealers in dry goods and general merchandise. Sometime in the 1920s, it became known as Walker’s Cash Store. At one point a gas station, clothing department, and garage were…

In 1868 the African American residents of Strasburg Virginia banded together to found Mt. Zion Methodist Church after being inspired by a series of travelling Methodist Missionaries that visited the town and organized religious meeting. That same…

Around 1886, Margaret Muse Pennybacker completed this house. Her ancestors had been influential commercial leaders in the area and had acquired a great fortune from numerous iron furnaces. They had also been major slaveholders and harsh taskmasters.…

Grace United Church of Christ dates its history to the foundation to around 1760 when a church was built at Rudes’ Hill. This building housed a Lutheran and Reformed Congregation. These groups moved to the area of Middle Road in 1783 when they…