Located in the northern Shenandoah Valley, Berryville emerged as a modest colonial crossroads community in the late 18th century. Originally called Battletown, the community became Berryville when Benjamin Berry and his wife, Sarah Stribling Berry, applied for the establishment of a town at this location, which was granted by the Virginia General Assembly in 1798. Berryville is situated at the crossroads of two colonial routes--Main Street and Buckmarsh Street--that linked the community's economy to commercial trade between Winchester and Alexandria, Virginia. Berryville became the county seat of the newly-formed Clarke County in 1836, which furthered the economic and political importance of the town. The Clarke County Courthouse, constructed in 1838 and individually listed in the National Register, is an excellent example of Roman Revival architecture. Berryville experienced action during the Civil War. Most notably, John Singleton Mosby, "the Gray Ghost" of the Confederacy, raided Union General Philip Sheridan's seven-mile-long supply train in Berryville. General Robert E. Lee also camped in Berryville en route to Gettysburg. The arrival of the Shenandoah Valley Railroad in 1879 secured Berryville's regional economic future as a processing and shipping center for the farmers of the northern Shenandoah Valley east of Winchester. The railroad brought new prosperity to the community, which experienced a building boom in the 1880s that did not end until the 1930s.
Beautiful Berryville is on the doorstep of the suburbs reaching out from Washington, DC. It has, however, been able to keep its historic character and rural charm. Concerned citizens formed Downtown Berryville, Inc. in 1988, and the following year, the Berryville Historic District was listed in the National Register. The town became a designated Virginia Main Street community in 1992. Since then, close to 200 buildings have been rehabilitated in this small town of 3,000 people and $6.7 million in private funding and $340,000 in public funding invested in the downtown. A current project for Downtown Berryville is the rehabilitation of several historic barns, the Barns of Rose Hill, that will serve as a community arts center. The Berryville Historic District is roughly bounded by U.S. Rte. 7, U.S. Rte. 340, Main, Church, and Buckmarsh sts. Downtown Berryville, Inc. is located at 5 South Church St. and is open 10:00am to 3:00pm, Monday-Friday. For more information about shopping, dining and events in downtown Berryville, call Downtown Berryville, Inc. at 540-955-4001. |
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