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The Commemorative Quarter for Virginia





Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

We have a couple of goals for our Gazetteer:

  • That it be a tool which helps us with planning our trips.
  • We're trying to shape our Gazetteer as a tool to help us understand the community in which our ancestors lived, the community that was part of their daily lives.
  • On our trips, we try to visit those places where our ancestors left their footprints.

By learning about Harrisonburg (and the surrounding area) during the time that our ancestors lived, we hope to have a better understanding of both their community and its relationship to their lifes. We hope that this tool helps to give us an insight into their world.

As we add data and organize our Gazetteer to help with our family research, we will be adding to this our Genealogical Helper for Harrisonburg. While we don't have information that is specific to any given person or family, we intend to expand our understanding about where and how people lived.

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Harrisonburg ...

An ongoing effort between the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has resulted in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).

To share their results, the partnership has created the Chronicling America website. The goal of this partnership is to assemble a database about the current and historic newspapers of the United States. This includes a growing collection of scanned images from selected papers. All of it available to the public on their website.

Using information that we've taken from the Chronicling America website, we've identified 70 newspapers that have been published in the area around Harrisonburg.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Harrisonburg. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Harrisonburg and those printed in the larger area surrounding Harrisonburg.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 21 miles [33.8 km]<1> of Harrisonburg.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These websites offer the information directly or else point to where you can find it. Their information is open to everyone.

To help you get started, the following links will take you to the pages that are relevant to Harrisonburg:

Cemeteries Near Harrisonburg ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Harrisonburg.

This is a new section and is likely to have errors. If you find an error, such as a missing cemetery or we have the wrong name, please let us know. If you know of them, we would also appreciate learning about previous or alternate names.

If you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our selection of Genealogy Websites (see below).

If not found below, our Cemetery List for Harrisonburg covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Harrisonburg, with the one closest to Harrisonburg listed first.

  • Woodbine Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Woodbine Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Woodbine Cemetery
  • Woodbine Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
  • Beth-El Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
  • Hebrew Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hebrew Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hebrew Cemetery
  • Newtown Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
  • Newton Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Newton Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Newton Cemetery
  • Mabel Memorial Presbyterian Chapel Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
  • Cedar Grove UMC Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
  • Thomas Family Cemetery #1
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Good Family Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
  • Mt. Sinai UMC Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • The Mt. Sinai UMC Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Vision of Hope UMC Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Sinai UMC Cemetery
  • Webster Family Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Webster Family Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Webster Family Cemetery
  • Continue List   (364 more) ...

Nearby Communities in 1895 ...

We've built the following list with information that came from an Atlas published by Rand McNally in 1895. The Atlas had details such as the population of the community (which appears to have come from the 1890 Census) and whether there was a post office and/or railroad service available. We also indicate if the community no longer exists and is now historic.<4>

While we didn't find Harrisonburg in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Harrisonburg.

These communities are listed based on their distance from Harrisonburg, with the one closest to Harrisonburg listed first.

  • Massanetta Springs
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Massanetta Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Massanetta Springs
    • Massanetta Springs is located in Rockingham County
  • Dale Enterprise
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dale Enterprise have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dale Enterprise
    • Dale Enterprise is located in Rockingham County
  • Dayton
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dayton
    • Dayton is located in Rockingham County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,642 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Dayton <5>
  • Green Mount
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Green Mount have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Mount
    • Green Mount is located in Rockingham County
  • Pleasant Valley
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pleasant Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Valley
    • Pleasant Valley is located in Rockingham County
  • Peach Grove ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Peach Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peach Grove
    • Peach Grove is located in Rockingham County
  • Keezletown
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Melrose
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Melrose have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Melrose
    • Melrose is located in Rockingham County
  • Linville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Linville
    • Linville is located in Rockingham County
  • Edom
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edom
    • Edom is located in Rockingham County
  • Mount Clinton
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mount Clinton have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Clinton
    • Mount Clinton is located in Rockingham County
  • Hinton
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hinton
    • Hinton is located in Rockingham County
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Rushville
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rushville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rushville
      • Rushville is located in Rockingham County
    • Friedens
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Friedens have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Friedens
      • Friedens is located in Rockingham County
    • Cross Keys
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)

We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Harrisonburg. See our List of 1890's Communities around Harrisonburg.

The official website for Harrisonburg: www.ci.harrisonburg.va.us/

The official website for State of Virginia: https://www.virginia.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Harrisonburg) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Harrisonburg. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.4494, Longitude: -78.8686    
<2>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<3>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<4>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Harrisonburg, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<5>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024