| Virginia (Page County), Grove Hill — Somerville Heights — A "most terrific fire from the enemy" — 1862 Valley Campaign |
| | Early in May 1862, Gen. Stonewall Jackson moved most of his army east over the Blue Ridge toward Charlottesville, leaving Gen. Richard S. Ewell's division at Conrad's Store (present day Elkton) to hold the Federals in the Shenandoah Valley. The Union commanders suspected that Jackson was en route to Richmond. They did not know, however, that he had turned back on May 3 and four days later was west of Staunton. On May 8, he defeated Federal forces at the Battle of McDowell. During the period of . . . — Map (db m12086) |
| Virginia (Page County), Grove Hill — The Burning of Red Bridge — The "Last Straw" Between Jackson and Ashby — 1862 Valley Campaign |
| | Nearly a month after the battle of Kernstown, Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's command had worked its way south "up" the Valley to join Gen. Richard S. Ewell's division near Conrad's Store (Elkton). To secure this haven for reorganization, on April 19, 1862, Jackson dispatched his mapmaker Jedediah Hotchkiss, to burn the three bridges over the South Fork of the Shenandoah River in Page County. From the onset, Hotchkiss' chore was plagued with problems. In addition to heavy rains, a number . . . — Map (db m12085) |
| Virginia (Page County), Luray — A Slave Auction Block |
| | Legend and narrative testimonies describe this stone as a slave auction block.
From the Page News & Courier, August 31, 1961: “This native sandstone block . . . which stood at the corner of Main and Court Streets at the Chamber of Commerce building . . . was used as a perch for slaves about to be sold at auction . . . The stone is said to be one of the few now in existence.”
It is similar to many which existed in the South prior to the Civil War.
As a part of everyday . . . — Map (db m5612) |
| Virginia (Page County), Luray — Calendine |
| | Calendine was built in the early 1850s by Townsend Young. The adjacent one story building served as a general store and stage stop on the Sperryville-New Market turnpike. The store was also a social gathering place for exchange of news and gossip.
Calendine was one the home of sculptor Herbert Barbee (1848-1936) who used the store as a studio. Mr. Barbee may be best known for creating the Confederate Monument located on East main St., Luray. Purchased by Page County Heritage Association in . . . — Map (db m16642) |
| Virginia (Page County), Luray — C-3 — Cavalry Engagement |
| | In mid-June 1862, after Maj. Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson’s Shenandoah Valley campaign, Brig. Gen. Beverly H. Robertson’s cavalry screened from Union observation Jackson’s movement east to join the Army of Northern Virginia near Richmond. Robertson posted two companies of cavalry here, half a mile north of Luray. On 29 June, a Federal reconnaissance force of Maine, Michigan, and Vermont cavalry rode south from Front Royal to locate Jackson. About 9:00 A.M. on 30 June, the . . . — Map (db m591) |
| Virginia (Page County), Luray — Civilian Conservation Camp |
| | During the 1930's, CCC Camp NP-1, Company 334, Camp Dern was placed in the area across the Skyline Drive and 1/4 mile to the south. — Map (db m13244) |
| Virginia (Page County), Luray — Confederate Heroes Monument |
| | (Left Side):Would it not be a blame for us if their memories part from our land & heart and a wrong to them & a shame for us the glories they won shall not wane for us in legend & lay our heroes in gray shall forever live over again for us. Ryan (Back):To the heroes both private and chief of the Southern Confederacy is this tribute affectionately inscribed. (Right):Glory Crowned 1861 - 1865. — Map (db m16457) |
| Virginia (Page County), Luray — Fisher’s Hill and Yager’s Mill — “We would have captured the entire rebel army.” — 1864 Valley Campaigns |
| | In September 1864, Union Gen. Philip H. Sheridan detached two cavalry divisions under Gen. Alfred T. A. Torbert to move into the Page Valley. While the bulk of Sheridan’s army would strike Gen. Jubal A. Early’s Confederates at Fisher’s Hill, Torbert was to cross Massanutten Mountain and cut off Early’s avenue of retreat.
This maneuver first met resistance from well-entrenched Confederate cavalry at Milford (present-day Overall) on September 22. Unsuccessful at breaking the line, Torbert . . . — Map (db m801) |
| Virginia (Page County), Luray — C-31 — Fort Philip Long |
| | Six miles south, near Alma, stands Fort Philip Long, a small Germanic stone dwelling with a massive end chimney. Constructed on the edge of a bank, the house is unusual in having two cellar levels, one below the other. A tunnel leads from the lower level to a well located a hundred yards away. The date of construction is not known, but it likely was built late in the 18th century for Philip Long II, grandson of Philip Long who settled the tract in 1737. According to local tradition, the house . . . — Map (db m802) |
| Virginia (Page County), Luray — Massanutten School |
| | This one-room school was originally located in the Massanutten section, west of Luray. Donated to the Page County Heritage Association by Thomas and Barbara Jenning, the c. 1880 building was moved to this site in 1974. Extensive renovation accomplished the present appearance of the school.
It is furnished with desks, a cast iron stove, and other items appropriate to a school of its time.
The building served as a school on its original site until the late 1930’s. — Map (db m800) |
| Virginia (Page County), Luray — Massanutton |
| | To the Founders of the Massanutton Settlement, 1729. Jacob Stover, Leader and Patentee of 5000 acre tract. Adam Miller, settler on the Shenandoah River 1727. Purchasers from Stover: Christian Clemon, Henry Sowter, Mathias Selzer, John Brubaker, Ludwick Stone, Abraham Strickler. Purchasers from Stone: Michael Kauffman, John Rhodes, Michael Cryter, Philip & Paul Long, Martin Kauffman, Michael Rinehart. For their foresight, courage, industry and moral worth. — Map (db m650) |
| Virginia (Page County), Luray — Mauck Meeting House |
| | Built for religious purposes by the “Neighbors”, mainly Mennonites from Switzerland and southern Germany. The outside of the one log walls were covered in 1851 with white weatherboards and the structure was roofed with chestnut shingles. A central heating chimney and tin roof were installed later. Heat was provided by a large six-plate stove made at the local iron furnace and inscribed D. Pennebacker – 1799. Early Mennonite ministers were john Roads; Martin, David and . . . — Map (db m16643) |
| Virginia (Page County), Luray — Pass Run and Thornton Gap — Between Campaigns — Gettysburg Campaign |
| | Nearly three weeks after the Battle of Gettysburg, and in the wake of a sharp fight near Front Royal at Wapping Heights (Manassas Gap) on July 23, 1863, Confederate troops from Gen. Richard S. Ewell’s corps withdrew to the Page Valley. On July 25, Gen. Robert E. Rodes’ division camped near Bethlehem Lutheran Church (otherwise known as Brick Church) and along Pass Run. Gen. Edward “Allegheny” Johnson’s division camped near Rodes, while Gen. Jubal A. Early’s division spent the night . . . — Map (db m13111) |
| Virginia (Page County), Luray — Shenandoah National Park — Skyline Drive |
| | Shenandoah National Park Shenandoah National Park was established in 1935 using lands donated by the Commonwealth of Virginia. The forest was once devastated by logging and farming, but has now returned, and covers more than 95 per cent of the Park. congress designated two-fifths of the Park as wilderness in 1976. More than 500 miles of trails lead beyond the Skyline Drive to secluded places where you can discover the beauty and peace of this recycled land. Skyline Drive The High Road . . . — Map (db m13249) |
| Virginia (Page County), Luray — The Chapman-Ruffner House — Boyhood Home of the “Fighting Chapmans” — Mosby's Confederacy |
| | Immigrant Peter Ruffner built this house about 1739. Before the Civil War, William A. Chapman bought it, and three sons reared here later fought for the Confederacy. For their exploits as members of Col. John S. Mosby’s Rangers, two of them, Lt. Col. William Henry Chapman and Capt. Samuel Chapman, became known as the “Fighting Chapmans.” After the war began, they and their brother Edmond Gaines Chapman served in the local Dixie Artillery. When it disbanded in October 1862, they . . . — Map (db m17210) |
| Virginia (Page County), Luray — The Reverend John Roads (Rhodes) |
| | Died 1764. A Pioneer and Christian father, who with his wife and six of his thirteen children, was a victim of the last Indian massacre in Page County. — Map (db m792) |
| Virginia (Page County), Luray — C-30 — White House |
| | The old building just north of the road was built for a fort in 1760. It has long been a landmark in this valley. — Map (db m572) |
| Virginia (Page County), Luray — White House Bridge — Critical Crossing — 1862 Valley Campaign |
| | On May 21, 1862. Confederate Gen. Thomas J.
“Stonewall” Jackson’s Valley Army plodded north
along this road to threaten Front Royal and out
flank Union Gen. Nathaniel Bank’s position at Strasburg. With the addition of Gen. Richard S.
Ewell’s division, Jackson’s command numbered
nearly 17,000 men and 50 guns. Philip Kauffman,
a young man at the time, remembered the Confederates as they crossed the Shenandoah River
on the White House Bridge and: “...Stonewall
himself . . . — Map (db m799) |
| Virginia (Page County), Luray — White House Ferry |
| | Operated from 1870–1910 about ¼ mile north of U.S. 211 over the South Fork of the Shenandoah River with its approach road close to the existing White House. You can easily see the White House, on the east side of the river, as you drive to the west.
A cable ferry 10 feet wide by 20 feet long pulled back and forth by four horse teams.
Fares: “Man and horse, 25 cents. Man or a horse alone 12½ cents, except as to the present or any future post rider, who shall pay for . . . — Map (db m573) |
| Virginia (Page County), Luray — Willow Grove Mill — Burning the Bread Basket |
| | On October 2, 1864, elements of the 2nd U.S. Cavalry Division under Col. William H. Powell reached this area near Luray and quickly laid waste to the Willow Grove Mill. Amanda Moore, wife of the mill’s owner, later recalled, "We had the Mill, Saw Mill, barn ... and all the stabling, granary, corn crib, and everything burnt ... the barns were full of wheat and also there was a great deal in the Mill.”
In addition to Willow Grove, several other flour mills, barns, sawmills, stables, . . . — Map (db m11034) |
| Virginia (Page County), Panorama — Through the Gaps |
| | In the valley below, Highway 211 snakes its way through the town of Luray and connects Thornton Gap, 1/2 mile to your left on Skyline Drive, with New Market Gap, the low point in distant Massanutten Mountain. Luray and Route 211 illustrate how mountain gaps have often determined townsite locations and travel routes. Imagine yourself 300 years ago pushing west across Virginia's wilderness. Ahead, an imposing north-south wall of Blue Ridge Mountains blocks your path. Where do you cross? Like all . . . — Map (db m13228) |
| Virginia (Page County), Panorama — C 56 — William Randolph Barbee |
| | Here stood “Hawburg,” birthplace of the eminent Virginia sculptor William R. Barbee (1816–1868). He studied in Florence, Italy, where he carved his famed “Coquette” and “The Fisher Girl.” Returning to the United States in 1858 he was at work on a design for the pediment of the U.S. House of Representatives when the outbreak of the war brought his career to an end. He died at “The Bower” which stood not far away. — Map (db m1571) |
| Virginia (Page County), Rileyville — Z-248 — Warren County / Page County |
| | Warren County. Area 216 square miles. Formed in 1836 from Frederick and Shenandoah, and named for General Joseph Warren, killed at Bunker Hill, 1775.
Page County. Area 322 square miles. Formed in 1831 from Shenandoah and Rockingham, and named for John Page, Governor of Virginia, 1802–1805. Luray cave is in this county. — Map (db m590) |
| Virginia (Page County), Shenandoah — Catherine Furnace — Underground Railroad for Union Soldiers |
| | Built in 1846, Catherine Furnace was one of three Page County furnaces in operation during the Civil War. The 30-foot-tall main stack is nearly all that remains of the cold blast furnace and once-huge operation here, when 22,500 acres supplied wood for charcoal, iron ore, and limestone, and food. With labor scarce, local whites, free blacks and slaves worked here to furnish the Confederacy with pig iron.
Wagons transported the pig iron to Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond, the . . . — Map (db m15892) |
| Virginia (Page County), Shenandoah — J-95 — Execution of Summers and Koontz |
| | On 22 May 1865, after the Civil War ended, Capt. George W. Summers, Sgt. I. Newton Koontz, and two other armed veterans of Co. D, 7th Virginia Cavalry, en route to obtain their paroles, robbed six Federal cavalrymen of their horses near Woodstock. The horses were returned the next day to the 192d Ohio Volunteer Infantry at Rude's Hill in Shenandoah County. Despite assurances that all was forgiven, Lt. Col. Cyrus Hussy, temporarily commanding the 192d, later ordered the men arrested at their . . . — Map (db m15902) |
| Virginia (Page County), Shenandoah — Shenandoah Iron Works — Page Valley Iron Industry |
| | In 1836, brothers Daniel and Henry Forrer, in partnership with Samuel Gibbons, purchased land here for an ironworks and built a cold-blast furnace, called Furnace #1. Some 6,249 acres provided trees for charcoal, quarries and mines for limestone and ore, and crops to feed the workers. The Forrers later built Catherine Furnace near Newport and Pitt Springs and Furnace #2 on Naked Creek. Each furnace consumed an acre of wood per day for charcoal production to stay in blast. In September 1862, a . . . — Map (db m16641) |
| Virginia (Page County), Shenandoah — The Stevens Cottage 1890 |
| | The Stevens Cottage, located 1/4 mile west, was built in 1890 to house the offices of the Shenandoah Land and Improvement Company. This restored post bellum building was designed by William M. Poindexter, in the shingle style of the Edwardian Period. It was part of a group of buildings erected in anticipation of an industrial boom in the Shenandoah Valley. The cottage later housed a school and in the twentieth century was the home of Miss Mamie Stevens. — Map (db m12084) |
| Virginia (Page County), Stanley — Graves’ Chapel — Jackson’s Last Glimpse of the Shenandoah Valley |
| | On November 24, 1862, Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson moved through Page County toward Fisher’s Gap to rejoin the main body of the Army of Northern Virginia, then near Fredericksburg. Jackson was in command of the newly organized Second Corps, with more than 32,000 troops. Crossing the South Fork of the Shenandoah River at Columbia Bridge, the long columns of gray took nearly four days to move along the facing road (New Market-Gordonsville Turnpike) before exiting the Page . . . — Map (db m15896) |
| Virginia (Page County), Stanley — Jackson's Last Mountain Crossing |
| | In November, 1862, Stonewall Jackson moved his 25,000 troops from Antietam to Fredericksburg. The army came through the deep notch (New Market Gap) in the first mountain range to the west (Massanutten Mountain). They followed the course of the Old Gordonsville Turnpike, which crossed the Shenandoah (Page) Valley, near the present town of Stanley, below here. They then struggled up and over the Blue Ridge, through Fishers Gap on your left and down the eastern slope to the Fredericksburg area. . . . — Map (db m13184) |
| Virginia (Page County), Stanley — Stonewall Jackson's Marches |
| | The Shenandoah Valley below was the scene of much of Confederate General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's activity, during the first two years of the Civil War. His swift and secret marches earned his troops the name of "foot cavalry." Jackson's Valley Campaign supplied the lean Confederacy with captured materials of war. His victories resulted in many Union troops being withheld from the first sustained campaign against Richmond, for the defense of Washington, D.C. — Map (db m13183) |
| Virginia (Page County), Verbena — History of Verbena |
| | Original Grant from King George III to Charles Cropson 1746. 1783 Grant from Beverly Randolf, Governor of Virginia to Jacob Mire. 1802 Jacob Mire to George Price. Original Mill Built 1803. Verbena Park and present mill built by Wm. E & H.C. Hisey 1935. Present Owners Floyd E. & Ann T. Stanley Purchased 1940. — Map (db m12083) |
| Virginia (Page County), Verbena — Shield's Advance & Retreat — Jackson Divides and Conquers — 1862 Valley Campaign |
| | Having successfully driven Gen. Nathaniel Bank's Union army from the Shenadoah Valley in late May 1862, Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's "foot cavalry" had little time to reset. While one Union army under Gen. John C. Frémont was bearing down from the north, another under Gen. James Shields was passing toward the Page Valley. If Shields could move quickly enough to overtake Jackson's force in the main valley, he and Frémont could unite and attack with a superior force. Accordingly, Jackson . . . — Map (db m12079) |
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