Where is taylorstown va

During this time, many of the Palatines reached the end of their endurance and decided to seek refuge overseas. Like many of their countrymen, they first went to England. Here they found life less harrowing, but it was neither the kind of life they had known nor the kind they were seeking. Work was hard to get, and they were forced to accept assistance too often.

To be "beholden" to anyone was against every principle of their self-sufficient nature, and they felt unwelcome. So it was not surprising that they soon began migrating to the American Colonies. After arriving in America, many Germans immigrants went to New York, but far more of them chose Pennsylvania where 40 to 50 thousand of them found homes between and By the Germans comprised about 60 percent of all the people in Pennsylvania.

In the German language, the official name for Germany is "Deutschland" and so they came to be known as the "Pennsylvania Dutch," although they were not of Dutch descent. In following the opening for settlement of the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, many Pennsylvania Dutch went there to establish home and communities.

This valley was only a few miles west of the site of present day Lovettsville. A year or so later, 65 or more families came into and settled in the area that now surrounds Lovettsville.

In a book entitled The German Settlement, by Briscoe Goodhard, there is a list of the names of 71 families, which he says comprised the colony by the end of Whether these people came directly from Pennsylvania or by way of the Shenandoah Valley is not known. What the founders called their new settlement is also not known. However, very shortly "outsiders" began calling it "The German Settlement," and the name stuck for about years. From the very beginning, these people were prosperous, but their prosperity was no accident.

They were sturdy by nature; and strengthened by past hardships, they did not shrink from hardships of life on this untamed frontier. With rare foresight and self-reliance, they planned their community. They saw to it that within their own ranks there were artisans who could work metal, make clocks, weave cloth, cobble shoes, make furniture and tools, and distill liquor.

With them they brought horses, cattle, poultry, swine, sheep, and probably dogs and cats. They had chosen to become Virginians, but they continued to live as they had in the old country. They spoke only the German language and followed their "Old World" customs, refusing steadfastly to be dependent upon others.

They were geographically and socially removed from the English settlements to the south and east, and continued in fact as well as in name to be Germans. In contrast to the colonial costumes of the English settlements of Virginia, the people of The German Settlement dressed in the simplest kind of homemade clothing. Thus, it is quite clear that these people followed a way of life peculiar to them alone. So, why had they chosen to become Virginians?

Of course, the availability of fertile farmland attracted them, but there were undoubtedly other reasons. Perhaps their objectives are best explained in a paragraph take from an article written by Irvey W. Quote, "Their aim was to discover the American way of life, as it opened great opportunities in a land of continental proportions, and in its immense resources they could always find a way for willing and competent hands to become part heirs of this great estate.

Now having come from Pennsylvania, a colony which had had religious freedom since William Penn, these people were now settling in a colony where everyone was obliged to attend the Church of England.

In Virginia, church and state were not separated. In fact, they functioned reciprocally as the parish rolls were used to collect taxes.

Nevertheless, it appears that The German Settlement ignored the dictates of both church and state, for they established their own Reformed Church, which played a prominent role in shaping the early life of The Settlement. Their early church leaders performed the functions of both preacher and teacher. Although public education did not become common until many years later, the church leaders saw to it that all of the children were taught to read, write, and cipher.

Life in The German Settlement was simple, but not really primitive. Their houses, their church, and other buildings were log cabins, but they were not necessarily "small, crude or rough," as frontier housing is often described. Some log houses, still in existence in the area, are actually quite commodious. That is not to say that those still existing are some of the original ones, but they do reflect that the people of The Settlement did prosper and liked to live comfortably, though simply.

The richly costumed, minuet dancing, dewigged, slave holding, planter of English Colonial Virginia often considered their German neighbors stupid and uncouth. The Taylorstown Mill was continuously in operation until , when its water wheel was sold to the nearby Oatlands Mill and the mill converted to steam power.

In , the steam engines were removed and the Mill became a feed store until Anna Hedrick bought it in the late s. Since the late s, Taylorstown Mill has been a private residence. The private residence today called Whiskey Hill dates to the late 18th century. During the 19th century, the Taylorstown area was one of the most densely populated areas of Loudoun County.

The town had a post office, a blacksmith's shop, 2 mills one is still standing , a U. Government-operated still, general and supply stores and a movie theatre.