Shenandoah National ParkRockingham County

N.W. Hensley estate farm, Tract 72, Rockingham County

Tenant: Thomas Morris

Did you know?Reed Engle's Historical Works

The 1920s survey

A frame house, 16 by 32 feet, with a slate roof; a barn, 34 by 48 feet; 8 acres of orchard (apple); timber (chesnut, scattered oaks). 138 acres, valued at $8,942.

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

Scanned deeds, surveys and claims, kept by the National Park Service (PDF).

County court land file

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

From the case file

A two-story frame house with a gabled porch and a long one-story wing with a porch, with snow on the roofs and ground.
A two-story frame house with a gabled porch and a long one-story wing with a porch, with snow on the roofs and ground. Photo: National Park Service, Shenandoah National Park, case file MorrisThomas_NULL00016_001_195102dd.jpg, opens in a new tab, page 1.
A small weatherboarded outbuilding with a snow-covered roof and a pole-supported log beam across its front, beside the corner of a larger building in winter.
A small weatherboarded outbuilding with a snow-covered roof and a pole-supported log beam across its front, beside the corner of a larger building in winter. Photo: National Park Service, Shenandoah National Park, case file MorrisThomas_NULL00016_002_195102dd.jpg, opens in a new tab, page 1.
A weathered plank shed with two doors and a ladder against its front, its roof covered in snow, standing behind a wire fence on a snowy hillside orchard.
A weathered plank shed with two doors and a ladder against its front, its roof covered in snow, standing behind a wire fence on a snowy hillside orchard. Photo: National Park Service, Shenandoah National Park, case file MorrisThomas_NULL00016_003_195102dd.jpg, opens in a new tab, page 1.
A board-sided outbuilding with a snow-covered roof inside a wire-fenced lot, where a cow stands beside it in the snow.
A board-sided outbuilding with a snow-covered roof inside a wire-fenced lot, where a cow stands beside it in the snow. Photo: National Park Service, Shenandoah National Park, case file MorrisThomas_NULL00016_004_195102dd.jpg, opens in a new tab, page 1.
A large weatherboarded barn with louvered vents and a snow-covered roof, with a shed beside it and wire and paling fences in the snowy foreground.
A large weatherboarded barn with louvered vents and a snow-covered roof, with a shed beside it and wire and paling fences in the snowy foreground. Photo: National Park Service, Shenandoah National Park, case file MorrisThomas_NULL00016_005_195102dd.jpg, opens in a new tab, page 1.

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.