Greene County

Greene County

Greene is one of the eight counties where, in the 1930s, the Commonwealth of Virginia acquired land for the creation of Shenandoah National Park.

Simmons Gap

A small, thriving community grew up in Simmons Gap because it was an important mountain crossing on the road between Charlottesville and Harrisonburg. In the early 1900s the Episcopal Church established a mission with a chapel, schoolhouse, residence for the teachers, and a clothing bureau to serve the local residents.

Holy Innocents Church at Simmons Gap.

from the Larry E. Lamb collection

Gathering at Holy Innocents Church at the Simmons Gap Episcopal mission.

from the Larry E. Lamb collection

The school at the Simmons Gap Episcopal Mission. This building is still standing and is being used as part of the national park ranger station now located at Simmons Gap.

from the Larry E. Lamb collection

Swift Run Gap
and Spotswood
Trail

Swift Run Gap was another important mountain crossing. The Spotswood Trail that connected the Piedmont with the Shenandoah Valley passed through this gap. The community of Fern Hill was located at the crest of the ridge. All the land in the gap was acquired for Shenandoah National Park, and there are no original buildings remaining.

Ferm Hill United Brethren Church at Swift Run Gap

from NPS Archives

The congregation at Fern Hill Church

from Zeda Haney Lam

The home of James Alexander (Alex) Haney family was located at Swift Run Gap. The Haneys ran a store and filling station that served travelers as well as the local community. Mr. and Mrs. Haney and their children are shown on the porch.

from Jack Hensley

Big Bend School was located below Swift Run Gap on the east side of the Blue Ridge on the original route of the Spotswood Trail

from the Greene County Historical Society collection

Lam’s Mill was located at the foot of the mountains along Swift Run and close to Spotswood Trail. Shenandoah National Park originally planned to preserve and restore Lam’s mill, but money was never available for this expensive project, and the mill was torn down.

Library of Congress collection

Pocosin Mountain

Pocosin or Pocosan? The term “pocosin” means a lowland area or sometimes “a swamp on a hill” and appears frequently in reference to upland bogs along the southeastern US coast. There are no extensive marshy areas in the Blue Ridge so it is uncertain how this name came into use in the mountains of Greene County. Today both spellings are found - “Pocosin” usually refers to the mountain and the community there, while “pocosan” identifies the two Episcopal missions started by Archdeacon Frederick Neve on Pocosin Mountain in the early years of the twentieth century. Lower Pocosan Mission lies outside the boundaries of Shenandoah National Park, while Upper Pocosan (Neve called this outpost “Far Pocosan”) was acquired by Virginia for the new national park. The public road that provides access to the area of Pocosin Mountain lying outside the park is Pocosan Rd. while Shenandoah National Park primarily uses “Pocosin” in naming trails, hikes, and locations within the park. Learn more about the Far Pocosan mission at https://www.abandonedcountry.com/2013/01/07/far-pocosan-wild-with-moonshine-whiskey/

Peeling peaches on Pocosin Mountain

from the Larry E. Lamb collection

Upper Pocosin

Built around 1902 this building served as the first chapel and schoolhouse at the Upper Pocosan Mission.

from the Larry E. Lamb collection

People and the priest are gathered at the original Upper Pocosan Chapel.

from UVA special collections

The original chapel with the house where the teachers and mission workers lived at the Upper Pocosan Mission

from the Larry E. Lamb collection

Later a stone chapel was built at Upper Pocosan. This photo was taken after the mission had been acquired by the state and was no longer being used.

from the Larry E. Lamb collection

Upper Pocosan Mission showing the schoolteachers’ house and the stone chapel that replaced the earlier wooden chapel/schoolhouse. This photo was taken after the mission was no longer in use. Ruins of these two buildings may still be found at this site.

from the Larry E. Lamb collection

The Geer Resettlement Community

By the mid-1930s it became evident that a number of families were not going to be able to move away from their homes and land without relocation assistance. The Resettlement Administration, a New Deal agency, arranged for the purchase of farmland at seven locations around Shenandoah National Park where houses with modern conveniences were constructed. By offering small homesteads consisting of a tract of land, a house, and some outbuildings with very generous repayment terms the government hoped the people would become self-sufficient farmers. Many families tried farming; some were successful and purchased their new homes, but the mountain people weren’t accustomed to owing money or to living in the “flatlands” and many moved on. At the Greene County resettlement community near Geer, instead of each family working its own land, the homes were clustered into a village-like area surrounded by the farmland, and the people were expected to work the land cooperatively. In part because the mountain people were independent and used to providing for their own needs the cooperative system didn’t succeed. When no families purchased their homes, the houses were all sold and torn down for the lumber.

Homes in the Geer resettlement community were constructed on land that was formerly owned by the Church of the Brethren. The Church of the Brethren Industrial School (CBIS) was a boarding high school where students learned modern agricultural techniques, trades, and domestic arts in days before the county offered education beyond primary school. The three-story building and the building to the left with the pointed roof were originally part of the CBIS.

from the Baltimore Sun Archives

The Geer resettlement community was constructed in the 1936-37 period. The new white houses in the background comprised the “village”. Chicken houses and small barn-type buildings were provided to each family. The large barn originally was part of the Industrial School.

from the Baltimore Sun Archives

Greene County resident Lillie “Peachy” Batten (right) was five years old when her family was moved from their home in Simmons Gap to the resettlement community established near Geer.

Photo credit Norm Addington