When I get involved with one of these, I invariably start with the  
first land patents that defined European settlements and work from  
there. Some of the counties have been replatted. You could check with  
DeedMapper and see if the files have been created, otherwise it is a  
really interesting project that will contribute much to your  
generation of grey hairs.

Lyle Browning


On Feb 19, 2007, at 4:19 PM, Eric Johnson wrote:

> Hi, all--
>
> Question for you: has anybody done much analysis of the political  
> and social history of the settlements in and around the Massanutten  
> area of the Shenandoah Valley in the early to mid eighteenth  
> century?  I've seen a couple of articles that touch on related  
> material:
>
> *  Chappell, Edward A. "Acculturation in the Shenandoah Valley:  
> Rhenish Houses of the Massanutten Settlement."  Proceedings of the  
> American Philosophical Society, Vol. 124, No. 1 (Feb. 29, 1980),  
> pp. 55-89.
>
> *  Hofstra, Warren R.  "Private Dwellings, Public Ways, and the  
> Landscape of Early Rural Capitalism in Virginia's Shenandoah  
> Valley."  Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture, Vol. 5, Gender,  
> Class, and Shelter (1995), pp. 211-224.
>
> *  Mitchell, Robert D. "The Shenandoah Valley Frontier."  Annals of  
> the Association of American Geographers, 62 (3), pp. 461–486.
>
> And a couple of books, most notably Warren Hofstra's tremendous  
> _The Planting of New Virginia_ (Hopkins, 2004).  Also often cited  
> are Wayland's classic _The German Element of the Shenandoah Valley  
> of Virginia_ and Wust's _The Virginia Germans_.
>
> Unfortunately for my interests--initially aroused because of  
> genealogical ties to the Massanutten settlement--Dr. Hofstra's  
> primary focus is further north on the Opequon settlement (near  
> Winchester), while some of the other sources that treat the  
> Massanutten area (west of Luray) more directly are fairly broad and/ 
> or dated.  Has anybody recently teased out more information about  
> the history of the Massanutten settlement?
>
> Thanks!
>
> --Eric
>
> Eric Johnson
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