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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 Riverside (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 Riverside. 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.

Neighboring Counties ...

When searching for family records, we have frequently made the mistake of not checking the neighboring counties.

For example, we have great-grandparents who lived in the northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors were in the next county to the east. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the county to the north.

So when searching for records, we had our best success by looking in neighboring counties instead of the county in which they lived:  their home county contained property and probate records; the county to the east contained birth and death records; the county to the north contained their burial records. If we hadn't included the neighboring counties, we would have missed many valuable sources of information.

If you're in a similar situation, we hope that the following information helps.

Riverside is located in Rockbridge County.

To see how the shape of Virginia's counties have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Rockbridge County: Alleghany, Amherst, Augusta, Bath, Bedford, Botetourt & Nelson.

Below are the counties that are near Riverside. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Riverside:

For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Riverside, see our County-by-County Page for Riverside.

Cemeteries Near Riverside ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Riverside.

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 Riverside covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • Timber Ridge Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Timber Ridge Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Timber Ridge Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Rockbridge Memorial Gardens
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Green Hill Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Green Hill Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Green Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Spring Valley Baptist Church Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Clarks Mtn. Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Clarks Mtn. Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Clarks Mtn. Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • McDowell Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the McDowell Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the McDowell Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Oak Grove Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Evergreen Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Wesley Chapel Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Wesley Chapel Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Wesley Chapel Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Paxton Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Paxton Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Paxton Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Coffeytown Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Irish Creek Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Irish Creek Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Irish Creek Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (167 more) ...
    • Fairfield Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fairfield Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fairfield Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Bethany Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bethany Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bethany Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Old Monmouth Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Old Monmouth Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Old Monmouth Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.

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.<6>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Riverside had a population of 22 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service.

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

  • Cornwall
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cornwall have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cornwall
    • Cornwall is located in Rockbridge County
  • South River
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for South River have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South River
    • South River is located in Rockbridge County
  • Timber Ridge
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Timber Ridge have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Timber Ridge
    • Timber Ridge is located in Rockbridge County
  • Midvale
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Midvale have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Midvale
    • Midvale is located in Rockbridge County
  • East Lexington
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Oronoco
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oronoco have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oronoco
    • Oronoco is located in Amherst County
  • Marlbrook
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Fairfield
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Decatur
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Decatur have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Decatur
    • Decatur is located in Rockbridge County
  • Zollman ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Zollman. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zollman
    • Zollman is located in Rockbridge County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Zollman
    • From Riverside to Zollman
  • Buffalo Forge
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Willow
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Willow have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow
    • Willow is located in Amherst County
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Forks of Buffalo
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Irish Creek
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Irish Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Irish Creek
      • Irish Creek is located in Rockbridge County
    • Davis
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Davis. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Davis
      • Davis is located in Rockbridge County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Davis
      • From Riverside to Davis

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

Newspapers Published in Riverside ...

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 50 newspapers that have been published in the area around Riverside.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Riverside, there are papers which were published within 21 miles [33.8 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Riverside.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These websites either 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 Riverside:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Riverside. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Rockbridge County: www.co.rockbridge.va.us/

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

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>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.
<4>The Find-a-Grave website is an excellent research tool with information about a cemetery's location and interments. They also offer a forum for their members which can provide additional help. More information about Find-a-Grave can be found on their website: findagrave.com.
<5>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Riverside) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Riverside. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.7895, Longitude: -79.3404       In this case, the coordinates for Riverside have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>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 Riverside, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 31 Mar 2025