Shenandoah Valley Sites

Staunton - The Frontier Culture Museum features Scotch-Irish (Ulster) farm buildings such as those once in the townland of Claraghmore in County Tyrone in the early 19th century.

These buildings show a traditional architectural form, the thatched one-story stone farmhouse. See an 18th-century blacksmith's forge and rare and minor breed animals who lived on the Ulster farms, too!

Ferrum - The Blue Ridge Folklife Festival takes place every October on the campus of Ferrum College. Celebrate like your Scots-Irish ancestors did, with plenty of Appalachian music, crafts and foods.

Fincastle - The Town of Fincastle is home to about 200 people. The County Courthouse and Museum are filled with records of the families who migrated through the Shenandoah Valley as early as the 1770s. William Clark, of Lewis & Clark, and who was born in Northern Virginia, married a resident of Fincastle, Judith Hancock.

Raphine - Wade's Mill is a working water-powered grist mill built in 1750 by a Scots-Irish family. Open April-mid-December.

Roanoke - "Big Lick" became Roanoke in 1882, which was an important crossroads along theGreat Wagon Road. It was here the road split, going south to North Carolina and west into Kentucky.

CREDIT: infomotions.com
Library of Congress Portrait of
Sam Houston, at the battle of San Jacinto.

Lexington -Visit the Birthplace of Sam Houston, a son of Scots-Irish settlers, who served as commander of the Texas army and won the battle of San Jacinto, which secured Texan independence. He later became a U.S. Senator and Governor of Texas.

Lexington - The Campbell House is home of the Rockbridge Historical Society, where you can research the history of the Scots-Irish in Rockbridge County.

Lexington - Visit the Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson House, the only house the General ever owned. He lived there when he taught cadets at the Virginia Military Institute, right before the Civil War.

Staunton - Take a self-guided walking tour of Staunton's Historic Districts, such as the Beverley History District, named after William Beverley who sold land to Scots-Irish settlers in the early 1700s. The Gospel Hill area is where their camp meetings or field services took place. These meetings combined preaching with fighting and drinking!

Steeles Tavern - Visit Cyrus McCormick's Farm & Workshop. McCormick, of Scots-Irish ancestry, invited the first reaper that revolutionized the world of agriculture.

Strasburg - Visit the Stonewall Jackson Museum at Hupp's Hill. The house was used by troops during the Civil War.

Strasburg - The Strasburg Museum features artifacts from Scots-Irish farms, homes and businesses during the Civil War and Railroad eras.

Winchester - The new Museum of the Shenandoah Valley tells the story of the art, history and culture of the Great Valley, which spotlights the Scots-Irish settlers.

Heart of Appalachia Sites

Historic Crab Orchard Museum & Pioneer
Park presents Appalachian events that
celebrate the heritage of the Scots-Irish settlers.

Appalachia - The Appalachia Cultural Arts Center in the Appalachia Town Hall on Main Street reflects the booming coal mining culture of the late 1800s. The town was the hub of eight coal camps, where many Scots-Irish settlers lived.

Big Stone Gap - The Harry W. Meador Coal Museum once was a community center where the locals danced. Exhibits include photographs, mining equipment and tools used by the Scots-Irish miners.

Big Stone Gap - Visit the John Fox Jr. Museum, which was the home of the famous author known for his novels about the mountain people � Trail of the Lonesome Pine and The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come, which became the nation's first million-copy seller! John Fox's Scots-Irish ancestors traveled down the Great Wagon Road in 1790.

Pocahontas - Step into the historic Pocahontas Exhibition Mine & Museum and learn the story of mining the famous Pocahontas Number Three coal and the miners who worked there.

Tazewell - Historic Crab Orchard Museum & Pioneer Park focuses on the history of Southwest Virginia with exhibits on Revolutionary and Civil Wars, agricultural and mining as well as homelife of the Scots-Irish settlers. See authentic log homes and barns on the property.

Tazewell - Thistle Cove Farm is an Appalachian homestead featuring rare breed horses and sheep. It is open for tours by appointment and during special events.

Blue Ridge Highlands Sites

Mabry's Mill in Patrick County is one
of the most photographed mills in the USA.

Ararat - Visit Laurel Hill, the birthplace of Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart. The town of Stuart in Patrick County was named for him.

Atkins - The Settler's Museum of Southwest Virginia tells the story of the people. See a 19th-century living history farm and one-room schoolhouse.

�

Blacksburg - Revolutionary War patriot William Preston was born in Ireland and came to Virginia as a young boy. He and his wife, Susanna Smith, lived at Smithfield Plantation, built in 1773.

Critz - Visit Reynolds Homestead, the restored 19th-century birthplace of R.J. Reynolds, founder of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.

Galax - See two restored Appalachian log cabins furnished with period items and mounted North American game animals, both reflecting the Scots-Irish settlers' way of life, at the Jeff Matthews Memorial Museum.

Marion - Smyth County Historical & Museum Society features a Tour Through Time, which reflects the economic and social development of the county.

Meadows of Dan - See Mabry Mill, a community gathering place for the settlers in the early 1900s. Watch traditional rural skills being demonstrated, such as basket weaving, chair caning, spinning and weaving. See the restored gristmill, sawmill, wood working shop and blacksmith shop, too.

Meadows of Dan - Mayberry Presbyterian Church is one of five historic rock churches founded by Rev. Robert W. Childress in the early 1920s who was immortalized in The Man Who Moved a Mountain.

Newbern - The Newbern Historic District was founded in 1810 and features 26 of the original log or wooden buildings, including a jail, hanging house, store, churches, private residences and an inn!

Newbern - The Wilderness Road Regional Museum complex is a large home and several restored outbuildings, including three log buildings. See furniture, paintings and photographs of the era 1810-1865. This is a wonderful resource for your own family research.

Saltville - The Museum of the Middle Appalachians showcases the 70-year history of Saltville as a "company town" where the coal miners and their families lived.

�