Shenandoah National ParkMadison County

Oscar Nicholson farm, Tract 101, Madison County

Did you know?Log structures on the farm

The 1920s survey

A 2-room log house, 16 by 20 feet, with a shingle roof; a barn, 13 by 14 feet; an orchard (5 peach trees). 7 acres, valued at $70. The state paid $510.

Map of the tract

Today

House sites and family graves are never marked. Pins show only public places, from USGS place names and other public sources.

Case files

The National Park Service has no case file online for this tract.

County court land file

Papers from the Madison County circuit court’s proceedings to take the land for the park, scanned by JMU Libraries.

From the case file

that the said Oscar Nicholson was entitled to Tract No. 101, and to the proceeds arising from the condemnation thereof amounting to $510.00
— Nicholson, Oscar, Madison County court land file, opens in a new tab, page 15. Courtesy of the Madison County Circuit Court Clerk and JMU Libraries, Histories along the Blue Ridge. Licensed CC BY-NC 4.0, opens in a new tab.
The undersigned has been in adverse possession of this 11 acres of land for the past 27 years, or longer
— Oscar Nicholson, Nicholson, Oscar, Madison County court land file, opens in a new tab, page 26. Courtesy of the Madison County Circuit Court Clerk and JMU Libraries, Histories along the Blue Ridge. Licensed CC BY-NC 4.0, opens in a new tab.

Families of the park

Other tracts whose owners shared the name. A shared name doesn’t always mean a shared family.

Source: National Park Service, Shenandoah National Park, Historic Land Tracts.