Washington County

By Donna Akers Warmuth

Located in southwestern Virginia, Washington County is a land of fertile grounds and rolling hills along the Holston River. Hardy pioneers settled this land in the mid- to late-1700s and tamed the wilderness to establish communities, churches, and schools. Officially formed in 1776, the county was named after Gen. George Washington for his fame and accomplishments before he became president. From the tribes of its original inhabitants to the introduction of the great railways and commerce, Washington County was a major gateway to the West along the Great Wagon Road and saw thousands of settlers and goods pass through on the way to the uncharted lands of the United States. With over 200 images, Washington County provides an intricate visit to the yesteryear of this rural region with scenes of the Virginia Creeper trains and railroads and the larger communities of Damascus, Meadowview, and Glade Spring, as well as early photographs of the smaller communities such as Benhams, Clinchburg, Mendota, and Hayter's Gap.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: Sep 18, 2012
• ISBN: 9781439633601

Donna Akers Warmuth

Author Donna Akers Warmuth is a native of Washington County and the author of several books in the Images of America series. She has gathered images from area museums and residents to tell the story of a distinct county and its history.

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2002.

One

FRIENDS AND FAMILIES

Many of today’s residents of Washington County are descended from the early settlers who braved Native American conflict and the wild frontier to settle this fertile river valley. These settlers mainly came into the region through the Great Wagon Road or the Valley Road, which leads south from Pennsylvania to Tennessee. Others crossed over the mountains from North Carolina. Settlement initially began in Smyth County and then spread southward. Rural settlements grew up quickly, as evidenced by the following list of unincorporated villages that had post offices in the 1930s: Meadowview, Wallace, Benhams, Lodi, Alum Wells, Alvarado, Wyndale, Plasterco, Robuck, Glenford, Emory, Konnarock, Greendale, Wolfrun, Green Cove, Clinchburg, Taylor’s Valley, Holston, Cole, and Zenobia. Smaller communities were often the site of a crossroads, resort, or railroad siding and included Phillip, Hayter, Creek Junction, Litz, McConnell, Mountain, Watauga, Drowning Ford, Fleet, Brumley Gap, Vail’s Mill, Washington Springs, Friendship, Ora, Laureldale, Grassy Ridge, and Lindell. Many of these communities have been forgotten today.

Many of the early settlers were Ulster-Irish, German, English, Welsh, and Swiss and were second or later generations from mainly Pennsylvania, Maryland, and eastern Virginia. These hardy people quickly adapted to the new American worldview and became part of Appalachia. The lingering contributions of these European cultures can be found today in the area’s bluegrass music and ballads, folk tales, speech patterns, and superstitions.

Farming was a necessity of life for most folks, but others engaged in business, logging, railroad work, trades, and industry. Today farmers are a disappearing segment of the population, although several Washington County farms have been in the same families for 100 or even 200 years. Although three Virginia governors came from Washington County—John B. Floyd, Wyndham Robertson, and David Campbell—it is the ordinary people who made the greatest contribution. These names of ordinary folk have been forgotten, although it was upon their backs that this region was