Shenandoah National Park Rockingham County

E.C. Lam farm, Tract 368, Rockingham County

Did you know?Stone filling station with columns

The 1920s survey

A 3-room frame house, 16 by 24 feet, with a metal roof; a barn, 12 by 16 feet. 3 acres, valued at $68,500.

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

Lam, E. C.
The file at JMU Libraries, opens in a new tab PDF, opens in a new tab
Courtesy of the Rockingham County Circuit Court Clerk and JMU Libraries, Histories along the Blue Ridge. Public domain, opens in a new tab.

From the case file

I consider the location of this filling station one of the best on the Spotswood Trail, and in my opinion, the lot on which the filling station stands and which surrounds it and the filling station are worth, at a conservative estimate, $3,000.00

— E. E. Lam, Lam, E. C., Rockingham County court land file, page 10. Courtesy of the Rockingham County Circuit Court Clerk and JMU Libraries, Histories along the Blue Ridge. Public domain.

Although we believe the values reported by the Petitioner's appraisers were very liberal and that the findings of the Board of Appraisal Commissioners as to values are substantially too high, we have accepted and will not seek a lower valuation than their findings as shown on the above tables in this case.

— W. C. Armstrong, Lam, E. C., Rockingham County court land file, page 29. Courtesy of the Rockingham County Circuit Court Clerk and JMU Libraries, Histories along the Blue Ridge. Public domain.

Families of the park

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

Did you know?

Stone filling station with columns
The filling station was constructed of stone, featuring a front over gas pumps measuring 17 by 20 feet and supported by two stone columns.
Sources differ: the park land records at JMU gives “The filling station was constructed of stone, featuring a front over gas pumps measuring 17 by 20 feet and supported by two stone columns”; the county court land file says “Affidavit of A, Ma Gooden to be read in connection with the motion filed by E. ¥. Lam to have the findings of the Board of Appraisal Commissioners disapproved in connection with its finding No. 368”.
From the records How we know
Award of $1,710.60 for Tract 368
The court judgment set the award for Tract No. 368 at $1,710.60, which the State Commission paid into the court's custody.
From the records How we know
Board valued tract at only $1,300
The motion said the Board of Appraisal Commissioners reported that the lot was valued at only $1,300.00.
Sources differ: the park land records at JMU gives “The motion said the Board of Appraisal Commissioners reported that the lot was valued at only $1,300.00”; the county court land file says “IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, VIRGINIA The State Commission on Conservation and Development of the Stateof Virginia vs. Filed in the Clerk's office Rockingham Cassandra Lawson Atkins and others, and County, Va. 52,501 acres of land in Roe kingham Sep. 28, 1932 County, Virginia. J. Rober”.
From the records How we know

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

The 1920s survey

Map of the tract

Case files

County court land file

From the case file

Families of the park