Publications

The Stone House Foundation and its museum, the Newtown History Center, are committed to conducting research focusing on topics of local history and material culture. As this research is distilled by our professional staff and our consultants into articles and reports, we will publish these documents here on this page as downloadable files. Please take advantage of this resource and learn more of the history of our town.

Images of America: Stephens City

In 2008 the Town of Stephens City celebrated its 250th birthday. As part of the commemorations, Arcadia Publishing released Stephens City as a new addition to its Images of America series. Authors Linden Fravel and Byron Smith of the Stone House Foundation utilized a rich collection of historical photographs, paintings, drawings and maps of the town to reveal the colorful story of Stephens City and its people from its earliest days in the 1700s to the beginning of the twenty-first century. The book also includes an introductory text that outlines the early history of the town before the advent of photography. Pictures of people and places from the town's past grace its pages. These images include photos of Main Street as it appeared over 100 years ago with buildings that are now gone, or much altered. Whether you are a former resident who moved away long ago, a current transplant who has recently moved into the neighborhood or a lifelong native, you are sure to enjoy this book. Copies are available from us here at the Newtown History Center for $19.99 plus tax. You can also buy it at local stores, book sellers, or order a copy online from your favorite book retailer. Please contact us for more information on how you can buy your copy.

Two Peoples, One Community: The African American Experience in Newtown (Stephens City), Virginia, 1850-1870

With generous support from the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation, the Stone House Foundation published this important research by historian Jonathan A. Noyalas in 2007. Focusing on the trials and accomplishments of the African Americans who lived and worked in Newtown/Stephensburg before, during and after the Civil War, Noyalas tells a story that has been largely overlooked by many historians. In addition to addressing the rise of abolitionist sentiment among some of the townspeople, he also discusses the establishment of the local "free black" community of Crossroads in the decade before the hostilities began. Noyalas also draws on previously unpublished primary sources to tell the stories of town residents, both free and enslaved, during the war years. He chronicles how they dealt with the setbacks and challenges of the war. Among the stories Noyalas recounts is the tragic suicide of a local free black Union supporter named Lee Jenkins. Jenkins had been captured by Confederate troops in June of 1863. Fearing a future in slavery he broke free as he was being marched south through Newtown with other prisoners, only to jump and drown himself in a well. In the end Noyalas discusses the relatively good relationships that developed between the white and black communities in Newtown during the years after the end of slavery. While hard feelings may have existed on both sides of the racial divide, the majority of the town’s inhabitants seemed to have preferred cordiality and respect for one another. This book is a valuable resource for anyone interested in local African American history and the Civil War. Copies are available for $15.00 plus tax at the Newtown History Center.

History of Orrick Chapel Methodist Church

In 2005, the Stone House Foundation received a generous grant from the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities to conduct research into the history of Orrick Chapel, an African American Methodist meetinghouse in Stephens City. The Foundation then hired the firm of History Matters, LLC in Washington, D.C. to conduct the research and write the report that we have today.

Built just after the Civil War to replace an earlier chapel that had been dismantled by Federal Troop during the winter months of 1864 -1865, Orrick Chapel served the African American Methodist congregation of Stephens City until it was donated to the Stone House Foundation in 1993.  Please download this document as a gift from the Stone House Foundation and enjoy learning about the history of this venerable structure and its congregation.

History of Orrick Chapel Methodist Church (PDF)