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Orkney springs main streetPhoto: Jweaver28 · CC BY-SA 3.0
–Not graded
History · Orkney Springs

Orkney Springs’ post office opened in 1853, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Its Register listing is the Orkney Springs Hotel. Below: 1 old photo or paper and maps from 1967 on.

1853first post office
1on the National Register
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Orkney Springs began

When was Orkney Springs founded?

1853

The Orkney Springs post office opened in 1853, the earliest record of the town by name.

173 years
Founding year: the first Orkney Springs post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Orkney Springs’ past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Orkney Springs’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Orkney Springs’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Orkney Springs came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Orkney Springs.

Read it all →

Major Peter Higgins laid out the town in 1808, with a common area surrounded by lots; later archeological research found relics of prior Native American use of the site.

In January 1864 Maj. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee's Confederate cavalry and McNeill's Partisan Rangers camped in Orkney Springs.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Orkney Springs, 1853 to 1967

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1853Post officeThe Orkney Springs post office opens
  3. 1860In the archiveMap of parts of Rockingham and Shenandoah counties, Virginia, including Harrisonburg and …
  4. 20th century
  5. 1967On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Orkney Springs, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1860s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1860s1 item
Map of parts of Rockingham and Shenandoah counties, Virginia, including Harrisonburg and Orkney Springs1860Map of parts of Rockingham and Shenandoah counties, V…Map
Today5 recent
2016-07-19 12 29 22 View west at the west end of Virginia State Route 263 (Orkney Grade) at Shrine Mont Circle in20162016-07-19 12 29 22 View west at the west end of Virg…SVMF Venue2014SVMF VenueOrkney springs main street2014Orkney springs main streetOrkney spring2014Orkney springOrkney Springs Hotel2010Orkney Springs Hotel
On the map

Orkney Springs on the map, 1967 to 1994

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Orkney Springs. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Orkney Springs on the 1967 USGS mapOrkney Springs on the 1972 USGS mapOrkney Springs on the 1987 USGS mapOrkney Springs on the 1994 USGS map1967Orkney Springs sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Orkney Springs.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Orkney Springs

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
10
each building in a district counts
first listed
1976
Orkney Springs Hotel
Orkney Springs Hotel
Buildings
Orkney Springs HotelBuilding

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Questions about Orkney Springs’ history

What year was Orkney Springs founded?

The Orkney Springs post office opened in 1853, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Orkney Springs?

One place: the Orkney Springs Hotel (listed 1976).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.