HISTORY

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Once America's western frontier, Augusta County is now home to some of the Old Dominion's finest rural landscape, historic landmarks and natural beauty.  At its founding in 1738, and named for Augusta, the Princess of Wales, the lands of Augusta stretched west to the Mississippi River and north to the Great Lakes. All or parts of seven states were carved from her territory.

Today the county lies in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley, flanked on the east by the weathered Blue Ridge mountain range and on the west by the rugged Alleghenies. A still strong farming tradition traces back to the first German, Scots-Irish, English and African-American pioneers, but carried through to the present with the most cattle, sheep and farmland of any area in the state.

Augusta County's 968 square miles is home to more than 66,000 people, and combined with the Cities of Staunton and Waynesboro which lie within her boundary, the area population exceeds 110,000.  Numerous villages and communities spot the county which is also home to a variety of businesses and industries.

The area is rich in agricultural production with an ideal combination of rolling hills, level land, flowing rivers and forested areas. Of the county's 643,097 acres of land, 54% or 346,217 are forest acres and the majority is located in the Shenandoah National Park and the George Washington-Jefferson National Forest.

Attracted by the scenic beauty, historic and cultural attractions and recreational opportunities, thousands of tourists visit the area year round with easy accessibility via air, rail and intersecting interstate systems, north-south I-81 and east-west I-64.

AUGUSTA'S BEGINNING:

By the early 1700s, the population along the eastern seaboard of America was growing steadily. It was therefore no surprise when people began casting their eyes westward - to the backcountry as it was then called. The western frontier at the time was the Shenandoah Valley territory that had hardly been explored by European settlers.

By the 1720s, however, several expeditions had pushed through the Blue Ridge Mountains to gain glimpses of the Valley beyond. The vast expanse of land sitting at their backdoor proved an irresistible prize. And there were ulterior motives by the Virginia legislators as well. The colony of Virginia had an established church, meaning that there was no separation of church and state, and everybody was required to pay allegiance and taxes to the state church which in this case was the Anglican Church (we would call it the Episcopal Church today). Rules against other denominations, generally referred to as dissenters, were often very strict and calculated to ensure the dominance of the established church.

Sir William Gooch, who was Virginia's governor from 1727-1749, helped ease discrimination of dissenters who agreed to settle in the untamed frontier of the Shenandoah Valley. His reasoning was that those settlers could serve as a buffer between the sometimes hostile French and Indians to the west and the established English colony to the east. His encouragement was met with open arms. Very quickly dissenters from Pennsylvania began flooding into the Valley. Many were German-speaking people who were often Lutheran or German Reformed or occasionally pietistic sects like Brethren and Mennonites. Even more of the Pennsylvania settlers were originally from the north of Ireland in a region called Ulster. They were often Presbyterian and came to be called Scots-Irish.

In the 1720s those immigrants who sought out the inexpensive land of the Valley were technically settling in Orange County which today is east of the Blue Ridge. As the numbers of settlers increased, it became apparent to the legislators that new counties needed to be formed. On November 1, 1738 an act was passed that carved two Shenandoah Valley counties out of Orange. They were Frederick, named for the Prince of Wales, and Augusta, named for the Princess of Wales. Of the two, Augusta was bigger; so big in fact that it technically stretched to the Mississippi River.

The description of Augusta included the phrase "to the utmost limits of Virginia." At that time the British Crown claimed all the territory to the Mississippi so that meant Augusta stretched to that river. Technically, of course, there were very few English settlers in the far reaches of Augusta.

That means that the territory of this county eventually had seven states carved from it - West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and part of Pennsylvania. Incidentally, Pittsburgh was once in Augusta County. Within the Valley and into Southwest Virginia, the following counties came out of Augusta: Botetourt, Montgomery, Washington, Rockbridge, Rockingham, Bath, Alleghany, Roanoke, Pulaski, Wythe, Buchanan, Highland and part of Bath.

For the first seven years of its existence, Augusta residents living in the new county had to conduct business in Orange County, which was quite a hindrance. Once the Augusta population had increased enough, however, a courthouse was established in 1745 at Beverley's Mill Place, now called Staunton. From the very beginning, Staunton has been the county seat of Augusta. County officials had to be elected and an Anglican minister and vestry had to be chosen before the government was operating smoothly. Interestingly enough, Augusta's first clerk of court, John Madison; first attorney, Gabriel Jones; and first surveyor, Thomas Lewis, did not live in what is today Augusta County proper. They all lived in the Port Republic area of Rockingham County, having married a trio of sisters and settled down there within a stone's throw of each other. Lewis was the son of John Lewis who is given the title of first European settler in the Staunton area.

Before the century had closed, the county fathers had also created a seal, which can be seen today over the doorway at the Verona government center, and had written a county motto: Nec debunt quamvis redeant in aurum Tempora priscum. The motto is a reference to Emporer Augustus and his golden age of simplicity and happiness. Roughly translated, it means "Let the ages return to the first golden period."

Augusta County's size dwindled throughout the 18th century. In 1769 Botetourt was formed from it, thus removing all of southwest Virginia, Kentucky and West Virginia from the auspices of the Augusta court. Rockingham and Rockbridge both came off in 1778. The establishment of Bath County in 1790 left Augusta at its present size of 968 square miles, the second largest county in Virginia after Pittsylvania.

Even after its size had been reduced from gargantuan to just large, Augusta continued to play a prominent role in America's history and the settling of the frontier. Staunton became the jumping off point for those gathering provisions for a westward journey, and most settlers heading for points west crossed through the county on the Great Wagon Road, which is U.S. Route 11 today.

This county, which was once the wild, wild west, has continued to contribute to America's history for more than 250 years. It would be easy to argue that Augusta County is one of the most historically significant counties in the entire country.

For additional information regarding Augusta County, please visit these websites:
   Augusta County history page  www.co.augusta.va.us/main/about.htm
   Augusta County Historical Society   www.augustacountyhs.org
   Crossroads of the Shenandoah Valley Visitor Guide   www.CrossroadsShenValley.org
   Central Shenandoah Planning District Commission
         www.cspdc.org/index.cfm?section=localities&page=Augusta_County