Madison County Virginia Historical Society

06/08/2026

Museum Mondays!

There is a wall-sized map at The Mountain Museum in Criglersville created in the early 1930's showing the proposed area of Shenandoah National Park within Madison County. It includes all of the properties to be seized and includes their owners' names. The eventual boundaries were changed to reduce the size of the park, and some of these properties were left alone, including the village of Syria.

06/01/2026

Museum Mondays!

Regular hours for our Madison Museum at the Kemper Residence are Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, 10 am to 2 pm. The museum is located in the basement of the Kemper Residence, next door to the Madison Administration Building, at 412 N. Main St., Madison, VA 22727. The basement museum is wheelchair accessible. The upper floors of the house, J.L. Kemper's law office, and the house's slave quarters are also open for touring.

Regular hours for our Mountain Museum are Sundays, 1 pm to 4 pm, or by appointment. Appointment requests can be made to [email protected]. The museum is located beside the former Criglersville Elementary School, at 1128 Old Blue Ridge Tpk., Madison, VA 22727. It is also home to Madison County's memorial to people displaced from Shenandoah National Park, part of the Blue Ridge Heritage Project.

05/25/2026

This Memorial Day, we honor and remember all of those lost in defense of freedom. One such Madisonian was Robert Yowell of Etlan. In January, his nephew, Albert, spoke about Robert's service and sacrifice during WWII. The presentation was summarized in the Society's February 2026 newsletter.
https://madisonvahistoricalsociety.org/newsletter/

Outside the War Memorial Building in Downtown Madison is a monument to those Madisonians who did not make it home from war.

05/21/2026

On Saturday, May 30, the Blue Ridge Heritage Project will present a program in Rappahannock County on "The People Before the Park: Displaced Families of the Blue Ridge." This program is not sponsored by the Madison County Historical Society but has ties to the history of Madison County. More information can be found in the link. Our Mountain Museum in Criglersville is the home to the memorial to Madison County's displaced families.

https://www.rappnews.com/local-events/library-hosts-program-on-displaced-blue-ridge-families-ca0d42f3/?fbclid=IwY2xjawR8SaxleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFQYWpMS01Nb1RMTjhVUUVYc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHuiT_hINa2fdYfNGDFNaHbu4ADyiko7YpykFz03C59zDWGxT3B2xLUl5HL1j_aem_blhj-q67hhiBB9a89o-UaA

Blue Ridge Heritage Project founder and chair Bill Henry will present “The People Before the Park: Displaced Families of the Blue Ridge,” a multimedia program e...

05/18/2026

Museum Mondays!

The Kemper Residence was a stop on the annual 4th grade walking tour of Madison. Fourth-graders from Waverly Yowell Elementary School walked through the town of Madison this morning to see historical sites and county government buildings, fitting in with their Social Studies curriculum of Virginia Studies. Students got to go into the Kemper-McMullen law office and the slave quarters behind the Residence before moving on to other stops. Some favorite items students spotted included the antique wheelchair, the sleeping loft, and of course the chamber pot under the bed!

05/14/2026

Our speaker for the May 17, 2026, quarterly meeting of the Madison County Historical Society will be Colonel Bill Schwetke, past president of the Culpeper Minutemen Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution. In this year when we are celebrating all year long the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, Colonel Schwetke will tell the story of the original Culpeper Minutemen.

Most all of us have heard of the Minutemen but probably in a very general sense. Colonel Schwetke will give us more detailed information about how those in Culpeper County (of which Madison was a part at the time) participated in the American Revolution.

Madison County Historical Society Quarterly Meeting
Sunday, May 17 at 2 pm
Madison County Administration Building Auditorium
414 N. Main St.

05/12/2026

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Woodberry Forest School to Host Commemoration Honoring Enslaved Individuals Whose Labor Shaped the Institution

This program is not sponsored by the Madison Co. Historical Society, but fits our mission to share the history of Madison County.

WOODBERRY FOREST, VA — May 16] Woodberry Forest School invites the public to attend a Special Commemoration on Saturday, May 16, recognizing the lives and contributions of enslaved individuals whose labor built and sustained the land that became the school.
The event will include the unveiling of a commemorative bench inscribed with the names of enslaved individuals identified in an 1843 inventory of the property’s resident owner, William T. Madison. This act of remembrance represents an important step in acknowledging histories that have long gone unrecognized.
The project is being led by Jayden Crosby-Brewer, a member of the Class of 2026 from Richmond, whose research began as an academic inquiry and evolved into a deeper commitment to historical recognition.
“I started out wishing to examine comparisons among examples of Black labor at Woodberry Forest,” Crosby-Brewer explained. “I came to reflect on the enslaved people whose labor built and sustained the land that became Woodberry Forest School, an institution that has shaped the lives of hundreds and thousands of young men, yet whose stories have largely gone unheard. That realization shifted my work into a responsibility to honor those voices, giving recognition to the people whose labor made the school possible and bringing light to histories long overlooked. The school has been very supportive, and on May 16 we will be unveiling a commemorative bench with all the enslaved names discovered in an 1843 inventory of Woodberry’s resident owner, William T. Madison.”
The May 16 commemoration will provide an opportunity for reflection, recognition, and community engagement, honoring those whose lives and labor are foundational to the institution’s history.
Event Details:
Date: Saturday, May 16
Time: 2 pm
Location: Gardens at the Residence
Woodberry Forest School Madison, VA
Media Contact:
Jayden Crosby-Brewer
Graduating Student at Woodberry Forest School
[email protected]
804.479.4231

05/11/2026

With great sadness, we share news of the passing of Max Lacy. Max was a lifelong historian and loved sharing the history of Madison County with everyone. He was a driving force in the Historical Society, and will be greatly missed.

05/04/2026

Museum Mondays!

The Mountain Museum has a wealth of resources on the people who once lived in what is now Shenandoah National Park. Visitors can access articles from professional journals, transcripts of interviews of displaced residents, family trees from mountain folks, and more. The museum is an incredible source for your genealogical research!

04/27/2026

Museum Mondays!

There are always two (or more!) volunteer guides at our museums during regular hours ready to show you around, answer questions, and share stories. You never know where your conversation will go as personal stories and family connections are shared.

When a Madisonian found some original prints of the “Scheel Map” of Madison County, of course everyone at the museum that day had to check out some of the older place names still listed on this fairly modern map. The map is also framed and hanging in both of our museums.

Interested in getting your own copy of Eugene Scheel’s 1984 map? Copies can be purchased next door to the Kemper Residence at the Madison County Library.