Historical highway markers

James Monroe, fifth president of the U.S., owned property here from 1793 to 1828.

Free State, a community of free African Americans, stood here.

Shadrach Battles, a free person of color born probably in Albemarle County, was a Revolutionary War soldier.

Ben Brown and other newly freed slaves, who founded the community after the Civil War, first named the settlement Egypt and then Bethel.

Thomas Sumter was born on 14 Aug. 1734 in this region.

The 19th-century mill village of Rio Mills stood 600 yards west of here, where the former Harrisonburg-Charlottesville Turnpike crossed the South Fork of the Rivanna River.

Near here, on both sides of the Rivanna River, was located the Monacan Indian village of Monasukapanough.

The Rev. Frederick W. Neve, born in England and educated at Oxford, came to Virginia in 1888 to serve as rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, here, and Emmanuel Church in Greenwood.

Here stands the Barclay House, built about 1830, later the home of Dr. James Turner Barclay, inventor for the U.S. Mint and missionary to Jerusalem.

In 1745 Old Albemarle County was organized at Scott's landing, its first county seat, here on the Great Horseshoe Bend of the James River.

James A. Brown began operating a store and ferry at this site on rented property in the late 1870s.

The Staunton and James River Turnpike ran through here at Batesville and stretched for 43 ½ miles from Staunton to Scottsville.

Earlysville Union Church is a rare surviving early-19th-century interdenominational church constructed in Albemarle County.

Extending from the Orange County line on the north to the outskirts of Charlottesville with the Southwest Mountains forming its spine, this historic district encompasses more than 31,000 acres and contains some of the Piedmont's most pristine and scenic countryside.

In 1866 Dr. William D. Boaz established the first commercial apple orchard in Covesville.

Just to the south was Mount Warren, the home of Wilson Cary Nicholas.

Bounded by the James River to the south and the Rivanna River to the north, this nationally significant district encompasses 83,627 acres.

The Scots-Irish settled the Greenwood-Afton area in the 1730s, linking the agriculturally rich Shenandoah Valley with eastern Virginia.

The St. John School, built here in 1922-1923, served African American students during the segregation era.

Soon after the Civil War, the Rev. Robert Hughes (1821-1895) and other freedmen organized Union Branch Baptist Church, later known as Union Run Baptist Church.

Just north was a classical school conducted by the Rev. James Maury, Rector of Fredericksville Parish from 1754 to 1769.

On 3 Mar. 1865, after the Battle of Waynesboro, Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan's Union Army of the Shenandoah entered Charlottesville.

Half a mile north was born, 1774, Meriwether Lewis, of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, sent by Jefferson to explore the Far West, 1804-1806.

During the Shenandoah Valley Campaign (March-June 1862) Confederate Maj. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson used deceptive maneuvers and sharp attacks to divert Union forces from the Peninsula Campaign against Richmond.

Jesse Pitman Lewis (d. March 8, 1849), of the Virginia Militia, and Taliaferro Lewis (d. July 12, 1810), of the Continental Line, two of several brothers who fought in the war for independence, are buried in the Lewis family cemetery 100 yards south of this marker.

Nearby stands Mirador, the childhood home of Nancy, Viscountess Astor, the first woman member of Parliament.

Villages such as Advance Mills were once common features of rural Virginia, serving as economic and social centers.

In Jan. 1779, during the American Revolution, 4,000 British troops and German mercenaries (commonly known as “Hessians”) captured following the Battle of Saratoga in New York arrived here after marching from Massachusetts.

The town grew around a rail stop established on Wayland's farm in 1876.

On February 29, 1864, General George A. Custer and 1500 cavalrymen made a diversionary raid into Albemarle County.

George Rogers Clark was born a mile northeast of here on 19 Nov. 1752.

Philip Mazzei, a Tuscan merchant and horticulturist, arrived in Virginia in 1773 and was persuaded by Thomas Jefferson to settle here.

Thomas Jefferson--author of the Declaration of Independence, third president of the United States, and founder of the University of Virginia--was born near this site on 13 April 1743.

William Randolph patented the Edgehill plantation, just to the north, in 1735.

The original house was built in 1765 by Doctor Thomas Walker, explorer and pioneer.

A bequest of Samuel Miller (1792-1869) provided funds to found the Miller School in 1878.

The vestry of Fredericksville Parish commissioned a church for this site in 1745.

Albemarle County Albemarle County was formed in 1744 from Goochland County and named for William Anne Keppel, the second Earl of Albemarle, titular governor of Virginia from 1737 to 1754.

Albemarle County Albemarle County was formed in 1744 from Goochland County and named for William Anne Keppel, the second Earl of Albemarle, titular governor of Virginia from 1737 to 1754.

Two and a half miles northwest.

The Rev. John Blair, a minister influenced by the Great Awakening, organized New Providence Presbyterian Church about 1746.

Two miles west.

Here stood, from the early 19th century until the mid-1900s, the tavern and stagecoach stop first owned by Peter Hanger.

Soon after the Civil War ended in 1865, Confederate veteran Charles S. Roller began teaching at the Old Stone Church nearby at Ft. Defiance.

Nestled here in the countryside south of Staunton, along historic Middlebrook Road, is one of the oldest villages in the region.

Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church traces its existence to 1789 when Shenandoah Valley circuit preacher Paul Henkel held services for the German community in a schoolhouse nearby at Seawright Springs.

Shenandoah Valley circuit-riding preacher Paul Henkel formed Mount Tabor Lutheran Church about 1785, several miles to the east.

On 5 June 1864, Confederate Brig. Gen. William E. “Grumble” Jones deployed his 5,600-man force to stop Union Maj. Gen. David Hunter's advance on Staunton.

The Augusta Stone Church, Virginia's oldest Presbyterian church in continuous use west of the Blue Ridge Mountains, opened on 22 Jan. 1749.

John Craig, born in County Antrim, Ireland, and educated in Edinburgh, Scotland, immigrated to America in 1734.

The vestry of Augusta Parish purchased 200 acres here in 1749 to serve as a glebe, farmland set aside to support the minister.

Colonists first settled Mossy Creek in the 1740s.

Five miles west is the birthplace of Virginia Institute, founded in 1842 by David F. Bittle, assisted by Christopher C. Baughman.

In 1947 the Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center became the first state comprehensive rehabilitation center in the United States.

Augusta County, created by the Virginia General Assembly in 1738, was formally organized in 1745.

The U.S. Army, needing stateside medical facilities during World War II, broke ground for Woodrow Wilson General Hospital here in June 1942.

Five miles east, formerly known as Woods' Gap.

John Colter, born in Stuart's Draft about 1775, was a member of the northwest expedition led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark (1804-1806).

Near this spot in 1764, Shawnee Indians killed John Tremble (Trimble) in the last such event in Augusta County.

Confederate troops, the remnant of the Army of the Northwest commanded by Brig. Gen. Edward "Allegheny" Johnson, constructed this fortification about 1 Apr. 1862 to protect the Shenandoah Valley, the "Breadbasket of the Confederacy."

This was first the southern branch of the "Triple Forks of Shenandoah" congregation, which called John Craig as pastor in 1741.

Born near Churchville on 25 Feb. 1843, Hanger joined the Churchville Cavalry at Phillipi, W.Va., on 2 June 1861, where the next morning he was wounded.

One mile north is the grave of John Lewis, first settler in this region, who came here in 1732 and died in 1762.

George Caleb Bingham, a renowned American genre painter of the 19th century, was born in a frame house just north of here on 20 March 1811.

Mount Pleasant, a venerable stone dwelling exemplifying traditional Shenandoah Valley domestic architecture, was likely erected after John Archer acquired the property in 1761.

George Moffett (1735-1811), a prominent regional military and civic leader, had joined the Augusta County militia by 1758.

A rural African-American school stood here by 1874.

Newlyweds Anna Mary Robertson Moses (later known as Grandma Moses) and her husband Thomas arrived in Augusta County from New York in 1887, renting several farms before purchasing Mt. Airy, a large brick Federal style house built in 1830.

The village of Stokesville, established by 1901, became a boomtown after the Chesapeake Western Railway was extended here in 1902.

Augusta County Formed in 1738 from Orange, and named for Augusta, Princess of Wales and mother of King George III.

Augusta County Formed in 1738 from Orange, and named for Augusta, Princess of Wales and mother of King George III.

Rockingham County During its October 1777 session, the Virginia General Assembly carved Rockingham County out of a large portion of Augusta County.

A descendant of the Huguenot immigrant Peter Rucker, John Rucker (d. 1794) settled east of here on Rippin's Run, and built Friendly Acres, the first of many Rucker family dwellings in the area.

Near this site on 1 Mar. 1864, Maj. Gen. J. E. B. Stuart's Confederate cavalry engaged Brig. Gen. George A. Custer's Union cavalry in what is locally called the Battle of Stanardsville.

The Episcopal Church opened Blue Ridge School here in 1910 for children from mountain communities who had minimal access to education.

The village of Stanardsville was founded by William Stanard (died 1807), of Roxbury plantation, on land that was part of his 6,000 acre inheritance from the Octonia Grant of 1729.

Orange County Formed from Spotsylvania County in 1734, Orange County, a pastoral Piedmont county, was probably named in honor of William IV, the Dutch prince of Orange, who married Anne, the Princess Royal, daughter of George II of England, earlier that year.

Greene County Formed from Orange County in 1838, this rural Piedmont county was named for Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene, Revolutionary War hero.

Here at Locust Dale, Stonewall Jackson's army crossed the river moving north to the battle of Cedar Mountain, August 9, 1862.

Two miles northeast is Woodberry Forest School, a college preparatory school for boys, founded in 1889 by Robert Stringfellow Walker, a captain with Mosby's Rangers.

First known as Jack's Shop for a blacksmith shop that stood nearby, Rochelle was the scene of a cavalry skirmish on 22 September 1863.

One mile west was the home of Joseph Early, Revolutionary soldier.

Joe Thoms, Sr., a slave harness-maker, founded Oak Grove Baptist Church during the Civil War at his nearby log cabin, which burned in 1869.

On 10 October 1863, Confederate cavalry commanded by Maj. Gen. J. E. B. Stuart engaged Union cavalry and infantry under Brig. Gen. H. Judson Kilpatrick and Maj. Gen. William H. French at James City (present-day Leon).

Stonewall Jackson, on his march from Winchester to Fredericksburg, preceding the battle of Fredericksburg, camped here, November 26, 1862.

Lt. Gov. Alexander Spotswood and a company of explorers, heading westward from Germanna, camped about four miles northeast of here on 31 Aug. 1716.

This Greek Revival-style house was built about 1852 for state senator Thomas N. Welch.

Nearby stands Hebron Lutheran Church.

The Blue Ridge Turnpike, completed in 1853, passed near here on its 56-mile route from the vicinity of New Market to the railhead in Gordonsville.

Clinton Greaves (or Graves), Medal of Honor recipient, was born in Madison County, very likely into slavery.

Oliver Dinwiddie Tucker, baseball player, grew up here in Radiant.

Rapidan Baptist Church, formed by Elijah Craig, James Reed, Samuel Harriss, and John Waller, was constituted on 14 Jan. 1773.

Just to the north, on the night of November 25, 1862, Stonewall Jackson, with his corps, camped.

Madison County In the hills of the Piedmont, against the Blue Ridge Mountains, Madison County was formed from Culpeper County in 1792.

Culpeper County Formed from Orange County in 1749, Culpeper County originally included the territory that now comprises Culpeper, Madison, and Rappahannock Counties.

Culpeper County Formed in 1748 from Orange, and named for Lord Culpeper, Governor of Virginia 1680-83.

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.

Just west of here is White House, a fortified stone dwelling constructed ca. 1760 during the Seven Years' War.

Six miles south, near Alma, stands Fort Philip Long, a small Germanic stone dwelling with a massive end chimney.

The Andrew Jackson School, named for a local Black entrepreneur, was built here in 1924-25 to serve African American students.

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.

Shenandoah County Formed in 1772 from Frederick, and first named Dunmore for Lord Dunmore, Governor of Virginia 1771-75.

Warren County Formed in 1836 from Frederick and Shenandoah, and named for General Joseph Warren, killed at Bunker Hill, 1775.

Near this place an engagement took place between Robertson's brigade and the First Maine Cavalry, July 5, 1862.

Of the 28 Washingtons in the United States, the "records very conclusively disclose" that this town, "the first Washington of all," was surveyed and platted by George Washington on the 24th of July (old style), 1749.

Here Stonewall Jackson, on his march around Pope's army by way of Jeffersonton to Bristoe Station, turned north, August 25, 1862.

Of the more than thirty Washingtons in the United States, only this town, "The First Washington of All," was surveyed and platted by George Washington on the 24th day of July (old style) 1749.

One-half mile southeast of here stood Ellerslie, built ca. 1814 for James Jett, a planter and merchant.

Washington School was built here ca. 1924 to serve African American students.

Here stood "Hawburg," birthplace of the eminent Virginia sculptor William R. Barbee (1818-1868).

Here J. E. B. Stuart, raiding around Pope's army, turned northeast, August 22, 1862.

Scrabble School, first known as Woodville School, was built in 1921-1922 to serve African American students in grades 1-7.

Ewell's Corps of Lee's army passed here going north, June 11-12, 1863; Hill's Corps, June 19.

On 26 June 1862, President Abraham Lincoln appointed Maj. Gen. John Pope to command the Union army that operated in Virginia.

Laid out by Francis Thornton, Jr., in 1817, Sperryville survives as an upper Piedmont crossroads village.

F. T. Baptist Church was founded nearby as Ragged Mountain Church in 1778.

John Jackson, Piedmont guitar master and influential traditional musician, was born near here on 25 Feb. 1924.

Warren County This lower Shenandoah Valley county was formed from Shenandoah and Frederick Counties in 1836.

Page County Z-174 Area 310 Square Miles Formed in 1831 from Shenandoah and Rockingham, and named for John Page, Governor of Virginia, 1802–1805.

Thomas Lincoln, father of the president, was born four miles west of here ca. 1778.

Union Brig. Gen. George Custer and Confederate Brig. Gen. Thomas Rosser, classmates and close friends at West Point, led their cavalry divisions against one another several times during the Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1864.

Here was fought the engagement of Mount Crawford, March 1, 1865, in Sheridan's last raid.

Near Edom, Virginia, on January 14, 1794, in a heroic effort to save his wife, Elizabeth, and child, Dr. Jessee Bennett performed the first successful Caesarian section and oophorectomy to be done in America.

This cave was likely known to Native Americans before the 18th century.

Daniel Harrison settled about 1745 at the headwaters of Cook's Creek where it is believed he built the stone portion of the present house.

Long's Chapel was built in 1870, a year after William and Hannah Carpenter and the Church of the United Brethren in Christ deeded land here “to colored people . . . for . . . a church, burial ground, and a school house.”

Early in June 1862, Union forces under Maj. Gen. John C. Frémont and Brig. Gen. James Shields pursued Confederate Maj. Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson up the Shenandoah Valley.

The first church in Rockingham County was built on this site in 1747 on land owned by Captain Daniel Harrison of the colonial militia.

On 5 Sept. 1716, in this region, it is believed, Lieutenant Governor Alexander Spotswood and his party of government officials, gentry, Native Americans, soldiers, and servants crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains into the Shenandoah Valley.

The Newtown School, built here in 1921-1922, served African American students during the segregation era.

Dayton is the birthplace of Shenandoah University, which traces its origins to a school established by the Rev. Abram P. Funkhouser in 1875.

Mennonites first entered the northern Shenandoah Valley about 1730 and settled in present-day Rockingham and Augusta Counties by the 1770s.

English American settler Daniel Harrison owned hundreds of acres in this area in the mid-18th century, and Presbyterians built Cooks Creek Church near here ca. 1750.

Located two miles southwest in the town of Bridgewater, this liberal arts college is affiliated with the Church of the Brethren.

Bridgewater College traces its origins to 1880, when Daniel C. Flory established the coeducational Spring Creek Normal School near this site.

Green Meadows, to the west, was the home of German emigrant Adam Miller, one of the first Europeans to settle in the Shenandoah Valley.

The cross road here roughly divides the Confederate and Union lines in the battle of June 9, 1862.

In 1768, John Lincoln moved here with his family from Pennsylvania.

Page County Formed in 1831 from Shenandoah and Rockingham, and named for John Page, Governor of Virginia 1802-5.

Rockingham County Formed in 1778 from Augusta, and named for the Marquis of Rockingham, British statesman.

Rockingham County During its October 1777 session, the Virginia General Assembly carved Rockingham County out of a large portion of Augusta County.

Rockingham County During its October 1777 session, the Virginia General Assembly carved Rockingham County out of a large portion of Augusta County.

Three and one half miles south, on Coalter Street in Staunton, is the birthplace of Thomas Woodrow Wilson, 8th Virginia-born president of the U.S. Princeton University president, New Jersey governor, 28th President (World War I), he was chief author and sponsor of the League of Nations.

One mile north, on Coalter Street in Staunton, is the birthplace of Thomas Woodrow Wilson, 8th Virginia-born president of the U.S. Princeton University president, New Jersey governor, 28th President (World War I), he was chief author and sponsor of the League of Nations.

Dr. Humphreys (1757-1802), an important teacher in 18th-century Virginia, received his M.D. from the University of Edinburgh.

Physician, soldier, and statesman, Dr. William Fleming (1728-1795) studied medicine in his native Scotland before practicing in Staunton from 1763 to 1768.

William A. and Queen Elizabeth Miller, an African American couple, operated an orphanage for Black children on land they purchased here.

A State residential school created by an act of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia on March 31, 1838 for the purpose of educating the deaf and the blind children of the state.

The oldest college for women related to the Presbyterian Church, U.S. Founded 1842 by Rufus W. Bailey as Augusta Female Seminary; renamed in 1895 to honor Mary Julia Baldwin, pioneer woman educator and principal, 1863-1897.

Chartered on 13 January 1844 as the Virginia Female Institute, Stuart Hall is Virginia's oldest college preparatory school for girls.

Montgomery Hall Park, a municipal park for African Americans during the segregation era, opened on 4 July 1947.

Known originally as Augusta Parish Church, it was founded in 1746 as the County Parish.

One mile south.

A short distance west, at Cedarville, stands the old home of the pioneer Robert McKay.

Stonewall Jackson, moving against Banks, captured this town from a Union force under Colonel Kenly, May 23, 1862.

On 23 Sept. 1864, in a fight south of town, some of Lt. Col. John S. Mosby's Rangers mortally wounded Lt. Charles McMaster, 2d U.S. Cavalry, after he allegedly surrendered.

In Aug. 1864, part of Confederate Lt. Gen. Richard H. Anderson's corps threatened the left and rear of Union Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan's army.

William E. Carson (1870-1942), the first chairman of the Virginia State Commission on Conservation and Development, a local resident, spearheaded the development of the recreational center for use by the people and visitors of Front Royal and Warren County.

The first Maryland Regiment, U.S.A., was a part of the force holding this town when it was attacked by Stonewall Jackson, May 23, 1862.

Warren County High School, a Public Works Administration project, was constructed in 1940.

Near here Stonewall Jackson was met by the spy, Belle Boyd, and informed of the position of the Union troops at Front Royal, May 23, 1862.

William E. Carson, of Riverton, was the first chairman of the Virginia Conservation Commission, 1926-34.

Archibald Stuart--Revolutionary soldier, legislator, and judge--was born here March 19, 1757, at the home of his grandfather and namesake, an early settler.

This is Waynesboro's oldest intact neighborhood.

Here, on one of the first roads west of the Blue Ridge, a hamlet stood in colonial times.

Settlers began to arrive to present day Augusta County in the 1730s and by the Revolutionary War a small hamlet existed here.

Virginia Metalcrafters had its first beginnings with the founding of the Waynesboro Stove Company in 1890 by William J. Loth.

James Abbott Fishburne, an honor graduate of Washington College inspired by its president, Robert E. Lee, opened in 1879 with 24 students what eventually became Fishburne Military School.

On the ridge west of Waynesboro occurred the last engagement of Confederate forces commanded by Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early.