The story
Read it all →How Sherando came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Sherando.
Mt. Torry Furnace was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Sherando
Sherando’s post office opened in 1853, and 1 of its places is on the National Register
Most of Sherando was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1994. Its Register listing is the Mt. Torry Furnace. Below: maps from 1943 on and old-book passages.
1853first post office
1on the National Register
4%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
How Sherando began
When was Sherando founded?
1853
The Sherando post office opened in 1853, the earliest record of the town by name.
2020 census: 696173 years
Founding year: the first Sherando post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Sherando’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Sherando’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Sherando’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.From the old history books
What they wrote about Sherando in 1882
Passages that mention Sherando, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Augusta County, Virginia1882 · page 277Read the page →
Read the text
Kaolin and Fire-Clay — the former of pure white — have been found on the South river, at Porcelain, near Sherando Station, on the Shenandoah railroad. Some years since extensive pottery works were erected, which were unfortunately destroyed by fire before insured. This catastrophe, and the panic of 1873, put an end to operations.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Sherando, 1853 to 1943
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1853Post officeThe Sherando post office opens
- 20th century
- 1913Post officeThe Sherando post office closes
- 1943
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade
No old photos in the archives yet
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your albumOn the map
Sherando on the map, 1943 to 1980
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Sherando. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1943Lovingston sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Sherando.
On the National Register
1 historic place in Sherando
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1974
Mt. Torry Furnace
Structures
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Sherando
Nobody well known was born in Sherando itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices
Sherando had its own post office from 1853 to 1913.
Sherando
18501940today
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about Sherando’s history
What year was Sherando founded?
The Sherando 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 Sherando?
One place: the Mt. Torry Furnace (listed 1974).
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.