USA > Virginia > Augusta County > Augusta County > History of Augusta County, Virginia > Part 33
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It was this enlightened policy on the subject of public improvements,- the construction of new and improving old roads,-which led to a consid- erable increase in the trade and prosperity of Staunton shortly after 1840 ; and there is no better way of measuring the civilization of a people than by the number of their roads. The most enlightened countries in the world,-such as England, France and Germany,-are those in which roads are most numerous, and the most ignorant, benighted land is Africa, the country where there are fewest roads.
The county is now traversed from east to west by the Chesapeake and Ohio railway, extending from the Atlantic seaboard, at Fortress Monroe, to the Ohio river ; from north to south by the Shenandoah Valley railroad, which crosses the Potomac near Harper's Ferry, thence pursues the Val- ley of the Shenandoah to Waynesborough, in Augusta, and thence going south through Rockbridge to Tennessee; and by the Valley Branch of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, which passes the Potomac at Harper's Ferry, running south through Winchester, and up the Valley west of the Shenandoah river, and generally parallel to the Shenandoah Valley rail- road, to Staunton and Lexington. The ordinary roads are the Valley turnpike from Staunton to Winchester, a well-graded and macademized road, which has added much to the comfort of the people living contigu- ous to it, and enhancing the value of their lands; the Parkersburg road, from Staunton through Buffalo Gap ; the Scottsville road, and numerous county roads. penetrating every quarter of Augusta. These roads need grading, widening, ditching and macadamizing, as nothing adds more to the comfort of a country, to the value of its lands and the profits of the farmer than good roads ; and many plans for securing this end are now
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under consideration, and ere long some of them will, no doubt, take form and be carried out.
AUGUSTA OR STRIBLING SPRINGS, 13 miles from Staunton, on the North Mountain, is a Summer resort of considerable reputation. The improve- ments consist of a large hotel, proprietor's residence, a number of cot- tages, &c.
ARBOR HILL is a pretty little hamlet, 6 miles south of Staunton, on the Middlebrook road. There is a mercantile establishment there, churches, &c.
BARTER BROOK is situated about 7 miles southeast from Staunton, in a fertile and beautiful section of the county. The population is about 50. There are two physicians, a flouring-mill, post-office and smithy.
CRAIGSVILLE is situated on the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad, about 23 miles west of Staunton, and is noted for its valuable marble quarries. It contains a population of 117 souls, two stores and a smithy.
CHURCHVILLE is situated on the Jenning's Gap road, 7 miles from Staunton, and has a population of 245; three stores, four churches, a fine graded school, two resident physicians, an organ manufactory, smithy and a large flouring mill. It is an enterprising and prosperous village, situated in the fertile and lovely valley of Jenning's Branch.
DEERFIELD is situated 25 miles from Staunton on the Warm Springs turnpike, on the Calfpasture, and has a population of about 60 souls. It has one church, a smithy, store-house, and a resident physician.
FISHERSVILLE lies 7 miles east of Staunton, on the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad, and has a population of about 175. It has a Methodist church, two stores, a wagon-maker's shop, smithy, and a resident physi- cian. In the vicinity there is a valuable iron mine, and much lime is burnt in the neighborhood and shipped to market. It is situated on the head waters of the " Long Meadows," one of the richest and finest sections of the county.
GREENVILLE is 12 miles south of Staunton, on the Lexington road. It has a population of about 250. It has churches, shops, a flouring-mill, resident physicians, several stores, &c. It is about a mile north of the Shenandoah Valley railroad, and is prosperous and thriving. There is a sprightly weekly paper published at this place, called the "Greenville Ban- ner."
MOSSY CREEK is situated 22 miles from Mt. Solon, near the Rocking- ham line. It is a village of about forty souls ; has a post-office ; a wag- onmaker's and blacksmith's shop, a furniture manufactory, a cooper's, and two flouring mills-Kyle's and Forrer's. One of the oldest Presbyterian churches (Mossy Creek) is here.
MT. SOLON-We are indebted to J. T. Clarke, M. D., for the following account of this prosperous and pretty little village :
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" The first settlers at the head of Mossy Creek, who located the lands at and around the site of the present village, were Robert Gregg, W. Mc- Dougal, and Adam Stephenson. These lands were granted to them by Lord Botetourt in the year 1769, or prior thereto, and adjoined the lands of Samuel McPheeters and Col. Stephenson. A log house was built by a Mr. Cochran, about 1799, which is now standing and occupied as a resi- dence, and a mill to the north of it. The log house was first used as a store by the firm of Cochran & Cravens-Dr. Joseph Cravens. This property was afterwards purchased by John and Christian Landes. One occupied the original log house, and the other built a similar residence on the north side of the forks of the road, which was subsequently demolished by Gabriel Judson, of Luray, and on its site the present commodious store- house built. They also erected a small log house on the site of the pres- ent brick mill-house, which was occupied by a Mr. Decker, the grand- father of Capt. J. F. Hottle, now of the village. The two Landes also erected a distillery on the south side of the dam, and a saw-mill on the north side of the forebay of the present mill. On the left side of the road, south of the creek, opposite the Cochran house, was erected a small log dwelling and smith shop, occupied and carried on by a Mr. Joseph Shuey. A school-house was about this time, or not long subsequently, built at the bend of the Staunton road. John Landes built a barn back of the smith shop on the side of the hill, and Christ. Landes built his barn a couple of hundred yards west of his house, on the North River Gap road. About the year 1818, the Landes sold the mill property and land attached to Wm. Cave (a brother-in-law of Abram Smith, who owned the farm called Egypt, on North River), and shortly after the sale the mill was burned down. Cave employed John and James Elliott and a Mr. Johnson, mill- wrights, to rebuild the merchant mill and saw-mill, and James Frazier, of Jenning's Gap, put up a store on the north side of the dam, and employed a Mr. J H. Bell to carry it on. Afterwards Bell and B. A. Ervine, both sons-in-law of Cave, bought out Frazier, and erected dwelling-houses on the lot adjacent to the store-house, and carried on the mercantile business until 1835. Cave also erected the brick mill-house, about the year 1827. About the year 1827, Jacob Daggy opened a tan-yard below the mill, and put up a brick dwelling-house-property now owned by J. E. Bolen. The village, with its varying fortunes, has continued ever since. In 1835, E. Stevens, of Rockingham county, and Henry Blakemore, of Miller's iron- works, bought out the firm of Bell & Ervine, and Mr. Blakemore, who was postmaster at the iron-works, by consent of the department, removed the post-office to his store, and the town was thenceforth christened Mt. Solon. On Friday, the 20th day of March, 1860, the greater part of the village was burned down. At present the village contains thirty-four dwelling- houses, one M. E. Church South, ten shops, nine of which are in opera- tion, viz: two shoe-shops, one smith shop, one pump-maker, one wheel- wright and chair-maker, two cabinet-makers ; one tannery and five store- houses, three occupied and in successful operation ; one wagon and agri- cultural implement maker, one architect and house carpenter, and 150 in- habitants ; is seventeen miles from Staunton, fourteen miles from Harrison- burg, five miles from Stribling Springs, and seven miles from the Dora Coal Mines and Wooddell's Springs. We also have one school-teacher, two lighting-rod peddlars, numerous nostrum venders, a Commissioner of Revenue, and the residence of the County Treasurer, and the usual pro- portion of gentlemen of leisure, and a physician."
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MOUNT MERIDIAN is situated about 18 miles northeast from Staunton, on the Port Republic road, and has a population of 40. It has a large flouring-mill, a store, wagon-maker's shop, smithy, resident physician. There is a large builder's and contractor's shop here, and a church.
MOUNT SIDNEY is situated about 10 miles from Staunton, on the Valley turnpike, and has a population of 244. It has a post-office, churches, stores, workshops, physicians, &c., and is a highly prosperous village. The B. & O. Railroad passes on the outskirts, where there is a station.
MIDDLEBROOK is 12 miles south of Staunton, and has a population of 274, and is one of the most enterprising and prosperous villages in the county, having numerous stores, shops, &c.
MINT SPRING is situated 6 miles south of Staunton, on the Lexington road, and has a population of about 75, a church, blacksmith's shop, stores, &c. It is a station on the Valley Railroad.
MIDWAY is half-way between Staunton and Lexington, and has a popu- lation of 76. It has a church, two stores, smithy, a resident physician, &c.
NEW HOPE is 10 miles from Staunton, on the road to Weyer's Cave, and has a population of about 200. It has one church, a Tunker church near, two stores, two resident physicians, a graded school, and the usual workshops belonging to a thriving village.
NEWPORT is situated on the Brownsburg road, 18 miles from Staunton, and has a population of 102.
PEYTONSVILLE. On the beautiful grounds at the intersection of Fair Ground avenue and the Parkersburg road, and north of those handsome thoroughfares, a plat of the streets and lots of this village has been made. In the opinion of many, it is destined to become the most attractive place of residence in the neighborhood of Staunton. The present popu- lation, on the Steep-hill estate, on which the lots lie, is 30.
PIEDMONT is 2 miles east of New Hope, and famous as the scene of a bloody engagement during the civil war.
STUART'S DRAFT is a post-office and village about 8 miles from Staun- ton, on the Shenandoah Valley Railroad, with a population of about 50, and is situated in the midst of one of the richest and most prosperous sec- tions of the county.
SPRING HILL is situated 8 miles northwest of Staunton, and has a popu- tion of 132. It is a post-office, has two churches, carriage and wagon- maker, blacksmith, physician, and two stores. It is a thriving and ad- vancing village.
SANGERSVILLE is a post-office and village north of Staunton 22 miles. It has a store, blacksmith shop, two churches, and is a thriving little town of 75 to 100 inhabitants.
VERONA is on the Valley turnpike, about 6 miles north of Staunton, and
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has a population of 63. It is a station on the B. & O. Railroad, a post- office, has a store, extensive flouring mill, blacksmith shop, &c.
WAYNESBOROUGH was first located on lands belonging to James Flack, and named after Gen. Anthony Wayne. In 1798 Samuel and J. Estill made an addition to the town by laying off with streets and alleys a piece of adjoining land containing twenty-one acres. Good schools were early established, and the education of the young engrossed the public attention for many years. The first act for the incorporation of the trustees of the Waynesborough Academy and Town Hall was passed on 19th of Decem- ber, 1832, or two years before the incorporation of the town. It is in these words :
Be it enacted by the General Assembly, That Richard Henry, Na- thaniel Massie, Wm. Clarke, John Wayt, Robt. Guy, Livingston Wad- dill, and Alex'r Wayland be, and they are hereby constituted a body politic and corporate by the name and style of "The Trustees of the Waynesborough Academy and Town Hall," and by that name shall have perpetual succession ; may sue and be sued, and have a common seal, with power to purchase, receive and hold, to them and their successors forever, any lands, tenements, rents, goods and chattels, of what kind so- ever, which may be purchased or devised, or given to them, for the use of the said Academy and Town Hall; and to lease or rent or otherwise dis- pose of the same, or any part thereof, in such manner as to them shall seem most conducive to the advantage of the said Academy and Town Hall; Provided, That not less than a majority of the said trustees shall be sufficient to authorize the sale of any real estate belonging to the said Academy and Town Hall. The said trustees, or their successors, or a ma- jority of them, shall constitute a Board, with power to appoint a President, tutors, treasurer, and such other officers as may be necessary, and shall have power, from time to time, to make and establish such by-laws, rules and regulations, not contrary to the laws and Constitution of this State or the United States, as they may judge necessary for the government of the said Academy and Town Hall.
2. The said trustees, or any one of them, shall have power to take and re- ceive subscriptions for the use of the said Academy and Town Hall; and in case any person shall fail to comply with his or her subscription, to en- force the payment thereof, by warrant before a justice of the peace, or by motion in any court of record in this Commonwealth, according to the amount of such subscription, upon giving ten days previous notice of such motion. And in case of the death, resignation, or legal disability of any one or more of the said trustees, the vacancy or vacancies thereby occa- sioned, may be supplied by the remaining trustees, or a majority of them.
Nothing in this act shall be so construed as to restrain the General As- sembly of this Commonwealth from amending, altering or abolishing, at any future time, the said corporation.
This act shall be in force from its passage.
The act for the incorporation of the town was passed February 12th, 1834, and need not be quoted, as it is in the usual form. It provided for the election of trustees, defined their powers, and authorized them to con- vey water into the town, etc. In 1874, Waynesborough obtained a new
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charter, the original charter having been in operation until 1858, when it was supposed to have lapsed. (See Session, acts 1874-5.) Under the new charter, William Withrow was elected Mayor; Thos. H. Antrim, Treasurer ; and J. H. Schindett, Sargeant. The Mayors have since been : Dr. P. St. G. Gibson, G. A. Bruce, and G. A. Patterson, who is the pres- ent Mayor. A handsome prison was erected in 1866-67, with a commo- dious Clerk's office and Council Chamber above. The population is 484, and the value of real and personal property is $137,209. Since the con- struction through the village of the Shenandoah Valley Railroad, there has been a considerable increase in business prosperity, and Waynes- borough seems destined to become a commercial and manufacturing centre of importance. There is a monthly magazine published in the town called " The Gem," and conducted with spirit by the enterprising firm of Dudley & Booz. A valuable flouring-mill was erected on the South River, at Waynesboro, as early as 1802. " It has been greatly enlarged," says Mr. William Withrow, to whom the writer is much indebted for information as to Waynesborough, the whole of which he regrets that his limited space does not permit him to use, "and has a capacity equal to, if not greater than any other in the county. It is said to grind one hundred barrels every twenty-four hours. To this mill is attached one for grinding plaster of Paris, of which it turns out from six to eight hundred tons annually."
WEST VIEW is 7 miles west of Staunton, on the Parkersburg turnpike, and has a population of about 60. It has a church, store, post-office, blacksmith's shop, flouring-mill, foundry and machine shop-formerly the property of Philip O. Polmer, dec'd.
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CHAPTER XVII.
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TOPOGRAPHY, METEOROLOGY, SOILS, GEOLOGY, MINERALOGY, FAUNA, FLORA, ETC.
Augusta county lies in what is commonly called the Valley belt, situated between the Blue Ridge and Alleghany Mountains. (The Alleghanies are sometimes called the Apalachian Mountains. European geographers extend the name northwardly as far as the mountains extend. The moun- tains get the name from the Apalachies, a tribe of Indians formerly resid- ing in the southern portion of the mountains.) Staunton, about the geo- graphical centre of the county, is about 250 miles from the sea coast and about 270 from the Ohio river. The mountains are not solitary and scat- tered confusedly over the face of the county, but are disposed in ridges on the eastern and western boundaries, running nearly parallel to each other. In the county there are three solitary peaks, Betsy Bell, the Sugar Loaf, and Elliott's Knob, and one of those ridges or divides which separate the waters of the Shenandoah from the James. The North Mountain range passes entirely through the county, and, from its great extent, was called by the Indians the " Endless Mountains."
The county is bound on the east by the summit of the Blue Ridge on the lines of Albemarle and Nelson counties, on the north by Rockingham county, on the west by Bath, Highland and Pendleton counties-the last being in West Virginia-and on the south by Rockbridge. It occupies the entire width of the Shenandoah Valley, and contains the head-springs, or sources of the Shenandoah river. Staunton, in the centre of the county, is in latitude 38° og' N. and longitude 79° 04' 12" West from Greenwich. The county is about 35 miles long and about 30 wide, with an area of about 1,000 square miles, and has, by the census of 1870, 222,843 acres of improved land and 178,028 acres of unimproved land. In 1882 it is divided into six districts, among which the population is distributed, by the census of 1880, as follows:
I. Beverly Manor, including Staunton, with a population of . 10,026
2. Middle River, with a population of . 5,549
3. North River, 4,313
4. Pastures, 3,991
5. River Heads 4,757
6. South River, 5,074
Total, by the State's census of 1880 35,710
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An extensive traveler in foreign lands, the writer has never seen a supe- rior race of men and women to those of Augusta and Virginia.
The Valley of Virginia, in which Augusta county is situated, " is part," says Hotchkiss, " of the great connected belt of Silurian limestone* valleys that extend for 1,500 miles from the mouth of the St. Lawrence through Canada, Vermont, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, the Virginias, Tennessee and Georgia into Alabama, forming not only one of the most beautiful, fertile, populous, and everyway desirable portions of the States it crosses, but is the 'garden of America,' as Washington called it." In the grand plateau of the Virginian Valley, and about midway between Harper's Ferry and Bristol, lies Augusta county. Its surface is entirely above the plane of I,coo feet of altitude above the sea level ; its valley por- tions, proper, range from near 1,000 to over 2,000 feet in elevation, and its mountain lands range to 4,456 feet in Elliott's Knob. The average of the county is not far from 1,500 feet. The general aspect of the country is animated and inviting. In the scenery there is a union of romantic and rural beauty, a bold variety of broken ground, plain, and mountain peak, harmonized by congenial groves and clambering vines ; intervening marks of cheerful cultivation, and the quiet presence of herds of cattle, horses and sheep grazing upon the luxuriant pastures.
The climate of Augusta is noted for its salubrity, the air being dry, pure and bracing, altogether without grossness. No malaria exists, and none of those fevers so common to less favored regions. The causes which modify the climate are in Winter the mountain ranges, which shelter the country from cold winds, and prevent, at every season, those cyclones and tornadoes which sweep the Atlantic coast, and are so destructive on the prairies of the West. The elevation of the Valley and the lofty mountains prevent excessive heats in Summer, and give us cool and pleasant nights. Thousands resort to this section annually in pursuit of health and a de- lightful Summer residence. The mean January temperature of Staunton, in the heart of the county, is 41º Fahr., and that of Jule 75°, according to the Smithsonian observations. The rainfall is 44 to 56 inches, and the rains are well distributed throughout the year. The winds are moderate in velocity, and the prevailing ones are from the southern quarters. The sky is remarkable for its clearness, and consequently, for the cheerfulness of the atmosphere-clear weather being the rule, cloudy the exception.
The soil is generally fertile, and well adapted to the purposes of agri- culture. The country on the South River, on the Middle River, on Lewis' Creek, on Baker's Creek, on Christian's Creek, and on the other creeks and water-courses of the county, in richness of soil, is perhaps second to none in America. Wheat is the most important production, and is exten-
*Silurian rocks, or strata, is the name given by Sir Robt.I. Murchiston to a series of rocks forming the up- per subdivision of the sedimentary strata found below the old red sandstone, and formerly designated the grey waches. These strata are well developed in Augusta county.
35 ₫
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sively cultivated in every part of the county, and its quality is unsurpassed. Indian corn, rye, oats, barley, are also cultivated with success, and every part is well adapted, even the mountain sides, to grazing. The blue grass is indigenous and exuberant in its growth. The forests are composed of a variety of trees, and, above all, oaks, whose woods are valuable for manu- facturing purposes, such as the white, Spanish, black, red, scarlet, post, chesnut, rock chesnut, and other species of oaks remarkable for their strength and durability ; white and yellow tulip poplar ; cucumber tree and the umbrella tree ; black walnut, hickory, white pine, yellow pine, black spruce, hemlock, balsam fir, red cedar, juniper, arbor vitæ, sycamore, beech, chesnut, ash, elm, sumac, locust, horn-beam, or iron-wood, dog- wood, persimmon, wild cherry, birch-black and white sugar maple, red maple, white maple, gum, and mulberry are common. The indigenous plum tree yields a fruit of agreeable flavor. Of shrubs and plants, the most noted are rhododendron, laurel and honeysuckles,-all being beautiful flowering shrubs,-wild hops, fox grapes, ginseng, sarsaparilla, snake- root, spikenard, vanilla grass, mandrake, wild gooseberry, and such Eu- ropean fruits-grapes, peaches, nectarines, pears-as have been intro- duced, flourish in Augusta, and the fruit is of delicious flavor.
THE RIVERS AND OTHER WATER COURSES.
The water-shed of the Shenandoah or sources of that river are in Au- gusta ; the thousand streams that form the head of the river are here, and consequently Augusta is better watered than counties lower down the Val- ley, where the creeks have collected into the main stream. Many of these sources are bold, perennial springs, capable of turning a mill or factory a stone's throw from their sources.
BACK CREEK flows from the spurs of the Blue Ridge and along its base 12 miles in a northerly direction, till it enters South river, which from its source, near Old Providence church, flows east 14 miles, receiving many small tributaries, till it joins Back creek, and then continues four miles fur- ther to Waynesborough, thence north 14 miles to Port Republic, where it meets Middle river, and with it forms the south fork of the Shenandoah at an elevation of 1,000 feet above the sea.
CHRISTIAN'S CREEK .- Four miles from Old Providence church are the head springs of Christian's creek, which receives many tributaries, until in 15 miles it enters Middle river.
MILL CREEK is the most important tributary to Christian's creek, en- tering it 8 miles below its source.
LONG MEADOW RUN heads near the Chesapeake and Ohio railway, three miles east of Christian's creek, and enters Middle river near the same point with Christian's creek.
LEWIS CREEK heads near the bend in Mill creek, and flowing north- east, passes through Staunton and enters, after a ten-mile course, Middle river. It receives from the left
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PEYTON'S CREEK, having its sources in the Buttermilk and Wagoners' springs, northwest of Staunton, Fanny's run and Gum Spring branch. Poage's run enters Lewis creek from the north four miles below Staunton.
MIDDLE RIVER .- At the foot of the Little North Mountain Middle river rises. It runs 9 miles along the base of the mountain northeast, where it receives another Back creek; near West-view it receives Baker's creek, which has come down about six miles from the south. Two miles from the mouth of Baker's creek, the river receives
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