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
Mt. Zion Methodist Church
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…
Lantz Mills Community
In 1747, Hans George Lantz left Germany and eventually settled on 470 acres along Stoney Creek in Shenandoah County. The area he arrived in had been occupied by Native Americans for several centuries.…
Shenstone
This house was constructed around 1825. Before this, a log cabin that was home to Riley Moore, an original European resident of the area, stood at the site. The house is a Federal Style structure with…
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
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…
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…
St. Luke Lutheran Church
Lutheran Ministers began preaching in St. Luke in 1878 when locals formed a congregation separate from the Woodstock Lutheran Church. Their first minister, P. Miller, had a congregation of 42 who met in the Union Church and the local school.
One…
Laonard Walters Ordinary and Liquor Store/Central Hotel
Built in 1836, the Central Hotel was designed to serve individuals travelling on the Valley Turnpike. Providing spirits would have been part of its mission from the beginning.
Who the early operators of the site were is unknown, but in the 1880s…
Blue and Gray Tavern
According to one of its advertisements, the Blue and Gray Tavern, operated by H.M. Dorsley, operated approximately 1/2 miles north of Toms Brook Virginia. Its signature dish appears to have been Virginia Barbecue. The catch line on their printed…
Lonas Building
In the early part of the 20th century, Mr. S. Lonas of Mt. Jackson constructed this building to house his mercantile business. Like many merchants at the time, Lonas dealt in most any time of merchandise customers wanted. His inventory included…