Massanutton - Luray VA
N 38° 38.680 W 078° 32.450
17S E 714019 N 4280215
A monument to the founders of the first settlement in the Shenandoah Valley stands along Rt. 211 in Luray.
Waymark Code: WMBJ1C
Location: Virginia, United States
Date Posted: 05/24/2011
Views: 7
The first white settlers came to the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia in 1727. Adam Miller located to the area between the Massanutten Mountains and Shenandoah River. Following him, there came other families who had migrated from Pennsylvania. In 1729, Jacob Stover was granted 5000 acres of land in the Massanutten tract by the Virginia Colonial Council and as a term of condition of the grant, he bought other families in to settle the land.
The settlers lived in relative harmony with the native Indian population until about 1754. With the increased influx of the white people into the area, tensions rose and raids and massacres escalated. During the French Indian War in 1758, the settlers were driven out of Shenandoah Valley. After the war, they returned and lived in peace for the next 100 years.
A monument was erected to the pioneers of Massanutten in 1929. The stone tower stands on Rt. 211 in Luray just west of the South Fork of the Shenandoah River. A stone wall against a small earthen bank has steps that lead up to the monument. The letters mounted on the wall read MASSANUTTON. (Note the variant spelling of Massanutten.) The top step is inscribed 'PLEASE do not DEFACE the WALL or MONUMENT - P. M. K. 1930'.
Plaque on front:
TO THE FOUNDERS
OF THE
MASSANUTTON SETTLEMENT
1729
JACOB STOVER LEADER AND PATENTEE OF 5000 ACRE TRACT
ADAM MILLER SETTLER ON THE SHENANDOAH RIVER 1727
PURCHASERS |
| FROM STOVER | FROM STONE |
CHRISTIAN CLEMON, HENRY SOWTER
MATHIAS SELZER, JOHN BRUBAKER
LUDWICK STONE, ABRAHAM STRICKLER | MICHAEL KAUFFMAN, JOHN RHODES
MICHAEL CRYTER, PHILIP & PAUL LONG
MARTIN KAUFFMAN, MICHAEL RINEHART |
FOR THEIR FORESIGHT,
COURAGE, INDUSTRY AND MORAL WORTH
ERECTED BY THE MASSANUTTON SOCIETY 1929
DONORS OF SITE MARY E. AND CLYDE ROTHGEE
ARCHITECT P.M. KAUFFMAN |
Stone on left side:
THIS STONE IS DEDICATED
TO THE ANCESTORS OF
PHIL. M. KAUFFMAN
and wife.
SALLIE J. CANDER.
Stone on right side:
JOHN D. ROTHGEB
Wellington, III
Pioneer ancestors
Jacob Rothgeb, Mill Creek
David Kauffman, Hawksbill
Wife, ANNIE B. AUSTIN
descendant of
JACOB ROTHGEB
P. M. K. 1929
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