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We are excited to announce that the Fort Valley Museum Fall Craft & Heritage Festival will be on Saturday, October 25th from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm.
The Old Brick Church will be open, along with the Trinity Church which is where our silent auction fundraising items will be on display. The main festival action will take place on the museum grounds. Event is held rain or shine!
All are invited to come out and support the museum on October 25th. We will also have many local vendors with several live vendor demonstrations. Food and drinks from Fort Valley Smokers will be available for purchase.
Welcome to Fort Valley: the History and Culture of Virginia’s “Valley within a Valley” will be available at the cost of $80.00 per book. The new 2025 Fort Valley Museum Christmas ornament, Burner's Sulpher Springs, will also be on sale, along with ornaments from past years, as well as a variety of other Museum-related gift items. They'll all be available at the 5th Annual FVM Fall Craft & Heritage Festival.
Lena Artz (1891-1976) was a trailblazing botanist who documented the unique plant communities of Shenandoah and Rockingham Counties. She published 40+ papers, created thousands of herbarium specimens, and was the first to describe species such as black ash and Ozark milkvetch in Virginia. But her accomplishments were never recognized in her lifetime.
We know Lena had connections in Woodstock, Fort Valley, Middletown, Winchester, and surrounding areas. Over the years, she worked as a schoolteacher in Port Republic, led nature programs at a summer camp at Elizabeth Furnace, was an active member of the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club, and served as a matron at Winchester Memorial Hospital. If you have Lena stories to share, please come see our new 2025 exhibit at the Old Brick Church and share your stories.
More about Lena: Fort Valley was once home to a pioneering botanist of the Massanutten Mountains, Lena Clemmons Artz (1891-1976). A Woodstock native, high school biology teacher, and owner of a cabin near Elizabeth Furnace, Lena dedicated her life outside of the classroom to documenting the unique plant communities of Shenandoah and Rockingham Counties and advocating for their preservation. Until an archive of her field notebooks and personal papers was discovered at Lord Fairfax (Laurel Ridge) Community College herbarium, little was known about her remarkable life story and accomplishments.
Welcome To Fort Valley is available, and can be shipped.
The book cost is $80.00. If you prefer to have it shipped, the shipping cost by USPS costs an additional $8.00 ($88.00 total for the book, plus shipping). Cash, check, or credit card payments are available. Checks should be made out to "Fort Valley Museum." Checks should be mailed to: Fort Valley Museum, PO Box 32, Fort Valley, VA 22652. If you wish to pay via credit card, please email us for an online invoice: fortvalleymuseum1830@gmail.com
A video channel has been created to provide online access to a collection of recorded oral histories.
Check it out!
Fort Valley Museum, Inc., P.O. Box 32, Fort Valley, VA 22652