Bridges Over the Rapidan River in Virginia (Softcover)
The last of four books by Patricia J. Hurst. "Bridges Over the Rapidan River in Virginia" is a compilation of history, pictures and reminiscenses of many people that the author met and talked to over her lifetime. Largely finished at the time of her death, it was finished by her brother, Stanley S. Johnson and her friend, Jayne E. Blair and published in her memory.
$20.00 plus tax
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The Octonia Grant: In Orange and Greene Counties (1977; reprinted 1998, Softcover)
by J. Randolph Grymes, Jr. In 1722, eight patentees received a grant to 24,000 acres, a holding that stretched along the Rapidan River from north-central Orange County to beyond Stanardsville in today's Greene County (Greene was formed from Orange in 1838). As an historian and a professional engineer, Mr. Grymes meticulously researched and wrote the history of that grant and its people. His field research actually located the last known Octonia boundary stone, carved with a cross atop the number eight.
(Softcover, about 126 pages w/illustrations, maps, and full index)
$14.95
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Ordering Options
You may order books in either of these ways:
1-To order online, click on the "Buy Now" button.
2-To order any of these publications by mail, please send the item numbers and names of the publications desired plus shipping along
with check payable to:
Orange County Historical Society, Inc.
130 Caroline St.
Orange, VA 22960-1533
3-You may also call us to place your order at 540-672-5366.
Virginia residents please include sales tax, 5.3%.
NOTE: Members discount returned at the office if ordered online.
The Diary of Fannie Page Hume, Orange Virginia, 1861 (1983, Softcover)
by James W. Cortada, editor. During the Civil War years, Fannie Hume lived at "Selma," on the Orange Turnpike just east of the settlement of Orange Court House, today's Town of Orange. An educated and entertaining writer, Miss Hume kept diaries during those years, and the Historical Society has published her diaries for 1861 and 1862. During that time, the Rapidan River, just five miles from Orange, became the effective northern border of the Confederacy. Her entries thus describe not only the impact of the war on civilian daily life and her reactions to news from distant places but also the sudden appearance of the war at her very doorstep. (91 pages)
$5.00
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NO MATTER WHAT BEFALLS ME: VIRGINIA FAMILIES AT WAR AND PEACE (2015, Hardcover)
by Patrick Sullivan. This 221-page book (indexed) has its beginnings in the Row family archive, but it is not about just one family. There are many stories here from the Civil War, often presented in the words of the soldiers and civilians who lived through it. There are also little-known histories, including the development of the local railroad, the merchants of Fredericksburg, the eccentricities of a clerk of court, and a woman who, as a young girl, survived the Battle of the Wilderness.
$25.64
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Occasional Papers #1: A Select Bibliography on Orange County, Virginia (1975, Softcover)
(16 pages)
$3.00
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Echoes of Orange (2013, Hardcover)
by Frank S. Walker Jr. Echoes is series of essays covering a wide range of fascinating stories from the 17th century to World War II. These stories focus on Orange County and environs, its people, and its wider influence upon the world. (160 pages including index)
$18.94
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The Fanny Hume Diary of 1862: A Year in Wartime Orange, Virginia (1994, Softcover)
by J. Randolph Grymes, Jr., editor. The diary of a young woman caught in the midst of the Civil War. This diary is well documented with over 300 footnotes explaining the people and events noted, as well as providing background information on Fanny's family and community. (236 pages including an appendix and a full index)
$12.50
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NEW!!
Orange Courthouse, 1861-1865: Orange in the Civil War (2nd Printing, 1979, Softcover)
A compilation of official records regarding Orange County in the Civil War and the men who served from the area. (46 pages)
$4.00
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Soldiers, Stories, Sites and Fights - Orange County, Virginia, 1861 - 1865 and the Aftermath (1998, Hardcover)
by Patricia J. Hurst. A 433-page volume covering the Civil War in Orange County, between 1862 and 1865. A limited quantity is available as it is now out of print. Includes bibliography and index.
$100.00 plus tax
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The Short Life and Strange Death of Ambrose Madison (2001, Softcover)
by Ann L. Miller. Ambrose Madison (ca. 1696-1732), was the grandfather of President James Madison. Born into an established Tidewater Virginia family, Ambrose Madison began a successful career as a planter, merchant, entrepreneur, and county official before deciding to travel westward to the fertile soils of the Virginia Piedmont frontier. He and his family settled on lands that would become the family's Montpelier Plantation in Orange County. Ambrose was poised to re-launch his career in this new setting when his life was cut short by an early and violent death. Poisoned by slaves, Madison was the first documented murder victim in the region. A careful researcher and an organized writer, Ann Miller has drawn together for the first time the scattered records of that tragedy, and in so doing, she has also brought to light the life and times of the first of the Upland Madisons. (2nd printing, 83 pages w/endnotes and six appendices)
$11.95
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Orange County Road Orders, 1750-1800 (1989, Softcover)
by Ann B. Miller Continuation of the series begun with Orange County Road Orders, 1734-1749.
(394 pages)
$25.00
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Rediscovering Little Petersburg
Just after the Civil War, newly freed African Americans faced the daunting challenge of where to live and how to survive in an oft times hostile new social order in the south. One solution was to establish self-sufficient freedman's villages, sometimes with the help of their former masters. These communities thrived up into the mid-20th century, but then faded as younger generations moved away to take advantage of job opportunities in the cities.
One such freedman's village is Little Petersburg. Located in Orange County, Virginia, Little Petersburg survives to this day, mostly because of a small church and its dedicated congregation. Rediscovering Little Petersburg takes a look at this remarkable community and its church through the eyes of people who were born and raised there.
$25.64
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The Clerks of Orange County, Virginia (1998, Softcover)
by Ulysses P. Joyner, Jr. Mr. Joyner, himself the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Orange County from 1982 to 1997, presents brief biographies of all of the clerks who have served from the formation of the county to the present. He also includes miscellaneous data on the evolution of both the Virginia and Orange County judicial systems. As a bonus, he lists of the holders of various other county offices in ---- appendices. Like all of Pete Joyner's books, a wealth of information lies between the covers. (44 pages)
$6.95
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GERMANNA -- America in Embryo (2017, DVD)
This latest documentary from AHHA Productions (Phil Audibert & Ross Hunter) explores the many important stories surrounding the original Germanna settlement. From Alexander Spotswood to the Knights of the Golden Horseshoe, from the beginnings of the iron industry to the Enchanted Castle, from the ongoing archaeological excavation to today’s millions of descendants, Germanna is America in embryo.
$20.00 plus tax
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Glimpses of Orange County History (2015, CD)
by Ulysses P. Joyner, Jr. A CD collection of Essays and Articles on Orange County, Virginia. Among the invaluable information contained on this seachable CD is a listing of the Towns and Villages of Orange County, an enumeration of the Judges and Sheriffs, and a section on Preachers and Politicians to name four of the eleven chapters.
$9.50
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Occasional Papers #4: The Rapidan Mound Revisited (1982, Softcover)
by C. G. Holland, Sandra D. Speiden, David van Roijen. A recounting of archaeological explorations at a prehistoric burial mound along the Rapidan River in Orange County, Virginia.
(42 pages with illustrations)
$3.00
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This publication is no longer available for sale from the Orange County Historical Society. However, you may download it in its entirety from the Virginia Department of Transportation website.
All Four Years: The Civil War in Orange County, Virginia (runtime 61:35, DVD)
A DVD written, directed, and narrated by Phil Audibert.
$20.00
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ANTEBELLUM ORANGE - Updated CD Edition
by Ann L. Miller. Before the American Civil War, architecture and the builders, building techniques, and building materials all tended to be more regional than at later times. Antebellum structures thus tend to more closely reflect a region's people and their values than later on. Architectural historian Ann Miller's work identifies, with pictures and extended notations, over 175 Orange County antebellum homes, public buildings, and historic sites and has therefore already become a "must have" classic.
The original 1988 edition (Hardcover, 185 pages with over 150 illustrations, plus maps and a full index) is Out of Print! However, the Orange County Historical Society has published an updated edition on CD. It has all of the information in the previous edition, with additional updated information and corrections, and is searchable!
$15.95
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Gordonsville Virginia...A Strong Fabric (runtime 21:36; DVD)
A film (on DVD) by Phil Audibert and Ross Hunter, celebrating a small town's 200-year-old history
See a trailer on this DVD!
$20.00
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Orange Virginia: Story of a Courthouse Town (Softcover)
by William H. B. Thomas. A brief history of the Town of Orange from 1749 (the date of the relocating of the county's court house to the crossroads settlement which became known as "Orange Court House") to the early 20th century. An engaging and entertaining historian, the late Bill Thomas contributed significantly to the historical knowledge of this region, with this very readable book being just one example.
(89 pages)
$5.95
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Orange County Road Orders, 1734-1749 (1984)
by Ann B. Miller. Roads were easily the most important public improvement in a colonial Virginia county. The creation and maintenance of a road involved its adjoining landowners, their tithables, and their lands -- and virtually everything involving them went through the courts system. County road orders are thus not only the most significant identifiers of persons and properties in a county, they are oftentimes the only sources of such information. The researcher/author of road orders for several Virginia counties, Ann Miller has published two volumes of Orange County road orders that span the years from the county's establishment to the end of the colonial era (1734-1800).
OLD BLUE RUN BAPTIST CHURCH (Second Edition: 2022, Hardcover)
by Garland Tyree. 96 pages, indexed and with illustrations. Originally published in 1986, this book is a thorough history of the Old Blue Run Baptist Church and the Baptists in Orange and surrounding counties, In the intervening years, Mr. Tyree continued his research and has added new material to the original publication.
Remembering: A History of Orange County, Virginia (2004, Hardcover)
by Frank S. Walker, Jr. Walker has combined a love of history with a lifetime of living and working in the Orange County area to produce a comprehensive and well-received county history. The events effecting the county's Native Americans, European Americans and African Americans are chronicled in a work that lends itself to being read not only cover-to-cover, but also in selected specific chapters, subchapters, episodes, and stories. While his book is thoroughly researched, with footnotes, and provides its readers with the detail expected in such a work, Walker relies on his experience as a tour guide to make his presentations interesting as well as informative. Remembering tells us about James Madison and his Montpelier; gold mining; "our" William of Orange; Robert E. Lee; Germanna; the slave Pompey, Shackaconia; the Marquis de Lafayette; the Poor Folks and Preachers Railroad; Barboursville; and much more. (314 pages, including index)
$30.00
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LOCAL FOLKS: A collection of stories about people from the files of the Orange County Review (Hardcover)
by Phil Audibert. Hardcover. A compilation of stories originally published in the Orange County Review. Meet some of Orange County's most interesting citizens. There are many, no longer with us, who are well-remembered and many who continue to contribute to our county in so many ways.
$19.95 plus tax
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PUBLICATIONS
ORANGE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
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© 2021 The Orange County Historical Society, Inc. 130 Caroline Street, Orange, Virginia 22960-1533
(540) 672-5366
Patriots of the Upcountry: Orange County, Virginia in the Revolution (1976, Hardcover)
by William H. B. Thomas. This book is the seventh and last in a series of publications of the Orange County Bicentennial Commission. It includes a history of the county from the 1760s to the 1780s, military rosters, public service claims, and legislative petitions. (166 pages with illustrations, appendices, and index)
$15.00
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Someday (DVD)
The Unexpected Story of School Integration in Orange County, Virginia.
A DVD Documentary by AHHA Productions (Phil Audibert & Ross Hunter).
$20.00 plus tax
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In The Season - The Edna Lewis Story (runtime 25:31; DVD)
A documentary about the "Grande Dame" of southern cooking, Edna Lewis, and the contribution she made to American regional cuisine and the earth-to-table movement. Written and directed by Phil Audibert, this biography was a 2012 Virginia Film Festival Official Selection.
See a trailer on this DVD! $10.00
$20.00
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Orange County's Confederate Monument (2017, spiral-bound booklet)
by Jayne E. Blair. This 20-page booklet provides a brief history of Orange County's Confederate Monument and enumerates the people that it memorializes.
$5.00 plus tax
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The Nine Lives of an Orange Tabby (2007, Softcover)
Produced in cooperation with The Arts Center In Orange, this softcover book is affectionately called "Purr" by Society members. The Nine Lives of an Orange Tabby is a delightful coloring book for children that tells the story of Orange County as seen through the eyes of Purr, an orange tabby cat with nine lives. Intended for children at the 4th grade level, "Purr" appeals to all ages with its charming illustrations and clever summary of County History. If you are looking for a fun gift for a favorite child, or a "little something" for a friend, you can't go wrong with The Nine Lives of an Orange Tabby!
$3.00
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Freetown: The story of a community of emancipated slaves in Orange County, VA
(1984, runtime 26:00, DVD)
A digitized oral history project from 1984 that tells the story of the birthplace of the "Grande Dame of Southern Cooking," Edna Lewis. Produced by Phil Audibert.
$20.00
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The First Settlers of Orange County, Virginia, 1700-1776 (2003, Softcover)
by Ulysses P. Joyner, Jr. A view of the life and times of the European settlers of Orange County, Virginia and their influence upon the young James Madison. (Second Edition, 236 pages, index and appendices)
$25.00
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A Guide to Historical Research in Orange County, Virginia (1988, Softcover)
by Ann L. Miller. A guide to county records and research sources for Orange County, Virginia.
(Pamphlet, 31 pages)
$4.00
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Letters To Tyler: Portrait of Orange County Virginia Family 1795-2019 (Softcover, 2019, 513 pp)
This is the story of of the Speiden family, embodied in William H. "Bill" Speiden's recent book, Letters to Tyler. In it, Bill tells the story of his late wife, Sandra Speiden, whose presence in Orange County, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and beyond will not be forgotten. Learn, as will her grandson who never got to know her, about her accomplishments, as well as those of the entire Speiden family.
Copies of Letters to Tyler are available at the Historical Society's Research Center (130 Caroline Street, Orange, VA 22960). All proceeds are being donated to the Orange County Historical Society.
$20.00 plus tax
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