Charles Koontz farm, Tract 139, Madison County

The 1920s survey

A 5-room frame house, 13 by 35 feet, with a shingle roof; a barn, 12 by 30 feet; timber (poplar, white oak, red oak, basswood). 20 acres, valued at $100.

Today

Landmarks on this map (2)

Summits

Stony Mountain · USGS place names

Falls

Dark Hollow Falls · Wikidata

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

Landmarks in this tract: Dark Hollow Falls · Wikidata, Stony Mountain · USGS place names

On Wikipedia

Cliff Kill Site: archaeological site in Virginia, United States
Recorded in the early 1970s during a park survey, this site was named Cliff Kill because its discoverers supposed it had been a buffalo jump. Test excavation turned up only seventy-one artifacts, the fewest of any site the survey dug, so the surveyors concluded it was an occasional specialty hunting camp rather than a base camp; any animals killed would have been butchered at the foot of the cliff and the meat carried away. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.
Published Summarized from the Wikipedia article Cliff Kill Site, opens in a new tab (revised 3 September 2026), CC BY-SA, opens in a new tab
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Dark Hollow Falls: Waterfall in Virginia, United States
Dark Hollow Falls is a 70-foot cascade located within Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. Situated at an elevation of 3,429 feet, it stands as the closest waterfall to Skyline Drive. The site is accessed via a 1.4-mile loop trail starting from a parking lot along the drive.
Published Summarized from the Wikipedia article Dark Hollow Falls, opens in a new tab (revised 26 April 2026), CC BY-SA, opens in a new tab
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Cliff Kill Site Photo: Nyttend, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, opens in a new tab.

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.

Koontz, Charles
The file at JMU Libraries, opens in a new tab PDF, opens in a new tab
In the file: Claimant Worksheet, Tract Assessment, Owner Claim, LOB9
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.

Did you know?

Heirs own fee simple title
In their claim, the heirs of C. G. Koontz, including an infant, said they owned the fee simple title, subject to the mineral rights of W. E. Coons and C. A. Green in two-thirds of the land.
From the records How we know
Claimed value of land and improvements
The claimants asserted that the total value of the tract with improvements was $35,000.00.
From the records How we know
Z. T. Breeden's dwelling and orchard
Squatter Z. T. Breeden's claim on the Charles G. Koontz estate land included a log and frame dwelling of 1½ stories with five rooms and a porch, and an orchard of 5 trees valued at $1.00 each, $5.00 in all.
From the records How we know
Court decided $250 for church trustees
In September 1934 the court decided that the trustees of Dark Hollow Union Church were entitled to $250.00 for the value of the buildings on Tract 139-III. The court noted that no taxes were due on the buildings.
Sources differ: the park land records at JMU gives “In September 1934 the court decided that the trustees of Dark Hollow Union Church were entitled to $250.00 for the value of the buildings on Tract 139-III”; the county court land file says “the said Trustees of Dark Hollow Union Church are invested with a superior or better claim of title in and to the said Tract No. 129-111”.
From the records How we know
Dark Hollow Union Church on the tract
The Dark Hollow Union Church building, on the Chas. G. Koontz Estate in Dark Hollow, was valued at $250.00.
From the records How we know

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