Montgomery County Highway Markers

Fort Vause

Ephraim Vause was appointed Captain of Horse in 1753 and was considered a man of considerable influence. For the protection of his family and his neighbors he built a simple palisaded fort nearby on his farm. In June 1756, during the French and Indian War, Indians attacked and burned the fort; a relief party led by Maj. Andrew Lewis arrived too late to save most of the occupants. Capt. Peter Hogg quickly rebuilt the fort, as a composite earth-and-palisade structure. George Washington inspected Fort Vause in October 1756 during his tour of Virginia's frontier defenses.

Photo courtesy of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources

Fotheringay

Fotheringay was the home of George Hancock (1754-1820), an officer during the Revolutionary War and later a colonel in the Botetourt County militia. He served in the Virginia House of Delegates (1784-1787, 1792) and the U.S. House of Representatives (1793-1797). His daughter Judith (Julia) married the explorer William Clark. Hancock purchased this property in 1796 and built the Federal-style house ca. 1815. A wing was added in the 1950s. Fotheringay's 19th-century interior woodwork, particularly its chimneypieces and doorways, features delicately carved motifs copied from the pattern books of English architect William Pain. The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Photo courtesy of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources

Montgomery White Sulphur Springs

Near here stood Montgomery White Sulphur Springs, popular resort area of 19th century America. During the Civil War the resort was converted into a military hospital staffed by Catholic nuns. Several hundred victims of smallpox including nurses and soldiers are buried nearby. The Southern Historical Society was reorganized here in August, 1873, when Jefferson Davis delivered the principal address.

Photo courtesy of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources

Christiansburg

Christiansburg, originally known as "Hans' Meadows," was established in 1792 and named for Colonel William Christian noted Colonial and Revolutionary Indian fighter. It became an important place on the route to the West. On May 10, 1864, Averell raided the town on an expedition into southwest Virginia. On April 5, Stoneman raided it while destroying railroads.

Lewis-McHenry Duel

In this town occurred the duel between Thomas Lewis and John McHenry in May, 1808. This was the first duel with rifles known to have taken place in Virginia. It resulted in the death of both men. Dr. John Floyd, later Governor of Virginia and member of Congress, was the attending surgeon. This affair contributed to the passage in January, 1810, of the Barbour Bill outlawing dueling in Virginia.

Christiansburg Industrial Institute

In 1866, Captain Charles S. Schaeffer, a Freedmen's Bureau agent, organized a school for blacks on the hill just to the southeast. Charles L. Marshall of Tuskeegee Institute became principal of the school in 1896. Under his guidance and with support from Philadelphia Quakers, a library, dormitories, classrooms, shops, and barns were constructed. Both academic and industrial classes were offered at the institute until 1947 when it became a public high school. In 1966, the institute graduated its last class, and its property was sold at public auction. Error: Note that the second sentence of the marker is incorrect, and should read: Charles L. Marshall of Tuskegee Institute became principal of the school in 1896.

Virginia Tech Airport

The airport was founded in 1931 as a college-owned facility. School funds and a grant from the Works Progress Administration in the early 1940s paid for paving a runway and building a hangar. Two training programs offered here made the airport important during World War II. The Civilian Pilot Training Program taught selected cadets at VPI and other colleges around the country how to fly airplanes. An aircraft mechanics training program, operated under the National Youth Administration, trained hundreds of high school graduates as mechanics. Students lived at a facility just northwest of here.

Virginia 4-H State Congress

Virginia’s first annual 4-H Boys’ and Girls’ State Short Course was held in Aug. 1919 on the campus of Virginia Tech. The weeklong event provided instruction in agriculture and home economics to 167 young people from 39 counties. An annual short course for African American youth began at Hampton Institute in Aug. 1923 and moved to Virginia State College in 1931. The course was desegregated in 1966 and became known as Virginia 4-H State Congress in 1967. The premier event for Virginia’s 4-H participants, its mission is to instill life skills and leadership abilities by providing competitive and non-competitive educational experiences.

Founding of the Future Farmers of Virginia

The Future Farmers of Virginia (FFV) was founded on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute by four members of the Agricultural Education Department in September, 1925. Developed as a statewide organization for boys enrolled in high school vocational agriculture, the FFV was used as a model for establishing the Future Farmers of America. The four founders were Walter Newman, Henry Groseclose, Edmund Magill, and Harry Sanders.

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University was founded in 1872 as a land-grant college specializing in agriculture and mechanics. The land-grant college system marked the beginning of scientific agricultural and industrial instruction in the Commonwealth. Over the next century Virginia Tech became nationally recognized as a comprehensive research university with a broad range of scientific, technological, business, and liberal arts instruction. The 3,000-acre main campus includes the site of Drapers Meadow where settlers were killed and captured on 8 July 1755 by Ohio-based Shawnee Indians at the beginning of the French and Indian War.

Smithfield

Smithfield, visible to the northeast, was the last home of Col. William Preston, a noted surveyor who fostered the settlement of western lands. Preston was also a Revolutionary officer, Indian fighter, and member of the House of Burgesses. Built soon after 1773, Smithfield is one of the earliest surviving houses in southwestern Virginia. The house is a remarkable expression of architectural sophistication in what only a generation before had been the edge of the frontier. Smithfield remained in the possession of Preston descendants for almost two hundred years.

Photo courtesy of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources

Solitude

The earliest portion of Solitude was constructed about 1801 on land owned by Philip Barger, who sold the property in 1803 to James Patton Preston, governor of Virginia (1816-1819). Governor John Floyd (1830-1834), Preston's brother-in-law, lived at Solitude about 1814-1815. Preston's son, Col. Robert Preston, enlarged the house from a simple log dwelling to a central-passage-plan, Greek Revival-style house about 1851. Col. Preston sold Solitude in 1872 to secure the location of Virginia's first land-grant university, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Mary Draper Ingles

On 30 July 1755, during the French and Indian War, Shawnee Indians attacked the Draper's Meadow settlement nearby. They killed Col. James Patton, Casper Barger, Mrs. George Draper, and a Draper child, wounded James Cull, and captured Mary Draper Ingles, her two sons, Mrs. John Draper, and Henry Leonard. The Indians took their captives to Ohio. After several months, Ingles escaped and wandered some 800 miles to return home, a legendary feat. She and her husband, William, moved near Radford and operated a New River ferry. She died and was buried there in 1815, aged 83.

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University was founded in 1872 as a land-grant college specializing in agriculture and mechanics. The land-grant college system marked the beginning of scientific agricultural and industrial instruction in the Commonwealth. Over the next century Virginia Tech became nationally recognized as a comprehensive research university with a broad range of scientific, technological, business, and liberal arts instruction. The 3,000-acre main campus includes the site of Drapers Meadow where settlers were killed and captured on 8 July 1755 by Ohio-based Shawnee Indians at the beginning of the French and Indian War.

William Black

Just northeast stood the home of William Black, the founder of Blacksburg. In 1797, he laid out a 16-block grid and petitioned the Virginia General Assembly to incorporate a town here; the legislature approved his petition on 13 January 1798. On 4 August 1798, he deeded the 38 3/4-acre site to the town's trustees, who included his brother and himself. Black served as a justice of the peace before moving to Ohio. He died there in 1850 at the age of 84 and he was buried in Pike Township, Clark County.

Price's Fork

Price's Fork is within the area often referred to as the German New River Settlement. Before 1745, German immigrants moved from Pennsylvania and began settling in this region within the Price's Fork-Tom's Creek area near and along the horseshoe bottoms of the New River. They were among the earliest settlers of European descent in the western section of present-day Virginia. Price's Fork received its name from the Price (Preisch) family, early German settlers here, whose land bordered both sides of the road. Price's Fork evolved into a village during the mid-19th century. Portions of the community's buildings are within the Prices Fork Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Five miles south lies the main campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, founded in 1872 as a land-grant college specializing in agriculture and mechanical arts. The land-grant college system initiated scientific agricultural and industrial instruction in the Commonwealth. Over the next century, Virginia Tech became nationally recognized as a comprehensive research university with a broad range of scientific, technological, business, and liberal arts instruction. The 3,000-acre campus includes the site of Draper's Meadow, where Shawnee Indians attacked settlers on 30 July 1755 at the beginning of the French and Indian War.

Giles County/Montgomery County

Giles County: Formed in 1806 from Montgomery, Tazewell, and Monroe, and named for William B. Giles, United States Senator and Governor of Virginia 1827-30. Mountain Lake is in this county.

Montgomery County: Formed in 1776 from Fincastle, and named for General Richard Montgomery, killed at Quebec, 1775. The Virginia Polytechnic Institute is in this county.