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      • Mt. Zion Cemetery
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      • Lewisville Community
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    • Shenandoah/Page Counties Tour >
      • Mt. Zion Baptist Church and Naked Creek Colored School
      • Catherine Furnace
      • Stony Man
      • Pass Run
      • Hamburg African American Regular School
      • St. John's Baptist Church
      • Rockingham County Bronze Turkey Statue
      • French’s Fence line Burials
      • Steptoe Barber Shop
      • Jessie Rupert Schoolhouse
      • Zion Baptist Church and School
      • Durrett’s Cleaners
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      • Corhaven Graveyard
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      • Cemetery at Lantz Mill
      • Columbia Furnace
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      • Wolf Gap
      • Riverview Cemetery
      • Creekside Elementary School
      • Mt. Zion Methodist Church
      • Woodstock “Colored School” (1867-1937)
      • Spengler Home
      • Esbie Baptist Church
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    • Town of Luray >
      • Ulysses Simpson Grant Fry Restaurant
      • Tutt's Tavern and Home
      • Bethel Baptist Church
      • Bethany Veney Historical Marker
      • West Luray School
      • Butler's Store and Home
      • Jackson Store and Home
      • St. John Baptist Church
      • Jackie's Beauty Salon
      • Historic Andrew Jackson School Museum
      • Thomas Dougans Taxi Cab Co.
      • Tutt's Auto
      • Tutt's Upholstery and Slaughterhouse
      • Wright's Restaurant
      • Midway Inn
      • King's Restaurant
      • Earl Harris Barber Shop
      • Little Angels Daycare
      • Emmett Arthur Dougans Bridge
      • Hillside Cemetery
    • City of Harrisonburg Tour >
      • Jail Hill
      • William Strother House
      • Jeremiah Gibson Properties
      • Hite Family Home
      • Peters' Family Properties
      • The Blue Circle 30 Club
      • First Baptist Church
      • Doc Dickerson's House
      • Ida Mae Francis Tourist Home
      • Blakey's Barbershop and Upholstery
      • The Colonnade
      • Mary Awkard-Fairfax' Home
      • Effinger Street School
      • Roberta Webb's Home
      • Historic Broad Street Mennonite Church
      • Dallard-Newman House
      • Bethel AME Church
      • Miss Lena's Grocery Store
      • First Baptist Church (Present Day)
      • Johnson Street Community Center
      • Lucy F. Simms' Home
      • Lucy F. Simms School
      • Ralph Sampson Park
      • Mr. Martin’s Store
      • Harris Pool
      • Newtown Cemetery
      • John Wesley United Methodist Church
      • Edgar Amos Love Historical Marker
      • Exchange Club Park
      • Ott Dependency
      • 150 Franklin Street Gallery
      • Hardesty-Higgins House Visitor Center
      • Harry Lee's Shoe Shine Parlor
      • Rockingham County Courthouse
      • Charlotte Harris Historical Marker
      • Elon Rhodes Barbershop
      • World War I Memorial
      • Furious Flower Poetry Center
      • Harriet Tubman Cultural Center
      • Harrisonburg-Rockingham County NAACP
    • Rockingham County Tour >
      • Valley Pike
      • Smithland Historic Home
      • Long's Chapel and Cemetery
      • Wilson and Fortune Cemetery
      • Residents of Zenda
      • Pickering’s Farmland Enslaved Burials
      • Tenth Legion Churches
      • Tunker Monument
      • Moore Family Burial Ground
      • Linville Creek Church of the Brethren Cemetery
      • Issac Riddle Farm African American Cemetery
      • Bergton Fairgrounds
      • Lincoln Homestead and Family Cemetery
      • Mannheim Plantation
      • Oak Grove Church and Cemetery
      • Daniel Harrison House (Fort Harrison)
      • Rocktown History
      • Spring Creek Negro Cemetery
      • North River Baptist Church
      • Greenwood Cemetery
      • Roscoe Burgess Sr. Riverwalk
      • Mt. Crawford Community Cemetery
      • Mt. Moriah United Methodist Church and Cemetery
      • Marshall Jones House
      • Bogota Farm
      • Dungeon's Chapel and Cemetery
      • Jonathan Peale House
      • Riverbank Plantation
      • Blakey Farm
      • New Hope Church and Cemetery
      • McGaheyville's Rosenwald School
      • Mt. Sinai Baptist Church and Cemetery
      • Bible Way Church of God in Christ and Cemetery
      • St. Hebron Baptist Church Cemetery and Greenwood Family Cemetery
      • St. Hebron Baptist Church
      • Mt. Paran Church Lot
      • Newtown School of East Elkton
      • St. Paul United Methodist Church and Cemetery
      • Elk Run Cemetery
      • Rockingham County Bronze Turkey Statue
    • Augusta County Tour >
      • Mount Sydney Schoolhouse No.27
      • Spring Hill Negro Cemetery
      • Fairview Cemetery
      • Kenneth L. Jones Funeral Home
      • Pannell’s Inn
      • Richmond Beneficial Company
      • Franklin T. Jones Tourist Home
      • D. Webster Davis School
      • Abbot’s Beauty School
      • Mount Zion Baptist Church
      • The Snack Shop
      • Ebenezer Baptist Church
      • Effie Ann Johnson Nursery School
      • Staunton Tribune
      • Augusta Street United Methodist Church
      • Charles L. Johnson’s Restaurant
      • Cabell Log House
      • Kier’s Tailoring and Alteration Service
      • Dr. C.J. Waller and Oscar W. Marshall
      • Colored Masonic Mount Zion Lodge No. 18
      • John Chiles Dental Office
      • The Peoples Dime Savings Bank
      • Crawford’s Barbershop
      • J. H. Gibson Grocery Store
      • Free School for Colored Children No. 2
      • James M Morris, Attorney-at-Law
      • Green Street
      • Vickers Way
      • Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church
      • Queen Miller Orphanage
      • Central Augusta High School
      • Community United Methodist Church
      • Cedar Green Negro Cemeteries
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      • Hunter Cemetery at Shady Oak Station
      • Smokey Row Baptist Church and Cemetery
      • Montgomery Hall Park
      • T.C. Edmunds School
      • Booker T. Washington High School
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      • Beverly Manor Baptist Church and Cemetery
      • Mt. Marine Baptist Church and Cemetery
      • Oak Grove Baptist Church and Cemetery
      • Oak Grove Elementary School
      • New Hope Churches and Schoolhouse
      • Crimora School
      • Morning Star Baptist Church and Cemetery
      • Mt. Lebanon Baptist Church and Cemetery
      • North Park Pool
      • Fairview Cemetery (Waynesboro)
      • Waynesboro’s Rosenwald School
      • Dr. Philip A. Hilton & Dr. Chavis Home and Office
      • Pleasant View United Methodist Church
      • McCutcheon’s Funeral Home
      • Abraham Hall
      • Shiloh Baptist Church
      • Elks Lodge
      • Tarry’s Hotel
      • Union Baptist Church
      • Steadfast Church of God in Christ and Cemetery
      • Beulah Baptist Church and Cemetery
      • Hatton Pond Baptist Church and Cemetery
      • Greenville Cemetery
      • Fannie Thompson House
      • Oak Hill Baptist Church and Cemetery
      • Staunton NAACP & Waynesboro NAACP
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 Clarke/Warren Counties Tour Sit 29

Warren Heritage Society

101 Chester Street
Front Royal, Virginia 22630

Directions from Williams Chapel to site 29:
  • From Peyton Street, turn left onto Chester St
  • Continue for 358 feet
  • The driveway for Warren Heritage Society will be on the right
  • Visitors are encouraged to explore the Warren Heritage Society property
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Open Tues-Sat 10AM - 4PM, and by appointment; warrenheritagesociety.org
The Warren Heritage Society (WHS) is the Front Royal/Warren County community’s historical society, museum, and archives. Established as a non-profit organization in 1971, the Warren Heritage Society has done a significant amount of work to preserve and share Warren County’s history, including a recent study on the lives of three African American women who were born enslaved and prospered after emancipation: Julia Allen Wanzer, Mary Fristoe, and Martha “Mattie” Thompson.

Julia, born in 1851, was one of 12 children born to enslaved parents Henry Allen and Ellen Blair. In 1868 Julia married John Wanzer, who the Balthis family possibly enslaved at 55 Chester Street. They had at least seven children together. At some point after the 1870s, a playhouse behind the Balthis house was enlarged and expanded, and the Wanzers purchased it. A 1906 deed mentions “Wanzer Lane” to the south of the Balthis house, no doubt named for the Wanzers still living in the old playhouse.
Mary Ellen Barbee was born enslaved on James M. Barbee’s farm in Chester Gap, about four miles south of Front Royal. After her mother’s death, Mary was bound out as a young girl to Milton T. Fristoe, a dry goods merchant. By 1880 Mary had taken the Fristoe name for herself, and she lived with the family until their deaths in 1898. Mrs. Fristoe willed Mary $1,000.
She then worked for the Williams family, and by 1907 Mary had saved enough money to purchase one-quarter of an acre on the corner of Chester and Peyton streets “comprising 2 lots with houses. The rent from two small houses on said street goes to Mary Fristoe…” She then built herself a small house on the property.
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Martha “Mattie” Thompson was born enslaved around 1850 on Jacob VanNort’s farm in the Riverton area of Warren County. After the death of VanNort, Mattie was purchased by his daughter and her husband for $900. Sometime after the Civil War, Mattie moved to Charlottesville, VA, and opened a brothel on Garrett Street. By 1885 she had accumulated enough wealth to purchase the brothel house outright. Mattie was a Madam for over 40 years but kept in touch with her VanNort and Samuels connections in Warren County. She contributed to the college fund of Bernard Samuels, who later became a world-renowned ophthalmologist. She willed her entire estate to Samuels on her death in 1925. She was the first African American buried in Prospect Hill Cemetery.
Site 28
Site 30
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  • Home
  • About
  • Tours
    • Frederick County Tour >
      • Mt. Zion Cemetery
      • Senseney Avenue
      • Belle Grove Plantation
      • Stephens City's Rosenwald School
      • Locust Grove Cemetery
      • Orrick Chapel
      • Crossroads/Freetown
      • Tokes Inn
      • Dr. Sarah Brown House
      • Winchester
    • Clarke/Warren Counties Tour >
      • Lewisville Community
      • Clifton Farm Slave Quarters
      • Bristow Community
      • Webbtown Community
      • Clermont Farm
      • Blackburn Town
      • Clarke County Courthouse
      • Josephine City
      • Josephine School Community Museum
      • Annefield Farm
      • Old Chapel
      • Little Chapel (Claytonville)
      • Browntown
      • Millwood
      • Enslaved Burials at Blandy Farm
      • White Post
      • Sugar Hill
      • Stone Bridge
      • Smoketown
      • Happy Creek Loop
      • Good Hope Cemetery
      • Ressie Jeffries Elementary
      • Front Royal Colored School
      • Warren County High School
      • Prospect Hill Cemetery
      • Freetown/Southtown
      • Mount Vernon Baptist Church
      • Williams Chapel
      • Warren Heritage Society
      • Henrico Baltimore Family Cemetery
    • Shenandoah/Page Counties Tour >
      • Mt. Zion Baptist Church and Naked Creek Colored School
      • Catherine Furnace
      • Stony Man
      • Pass Run
      • Hamburg African American Regular School
      • St. John's Baptist Church
      • Rockingham County Bronze Turkey Statue
      • French’s Fence line Burials
      • Steptoe Barber Shop
      • Jessie Rupert Schoolhouse
      • Zion Baptist Church and School
      • Durrett’s Cleaners
      • Asbury Memorial Methodist Church
      • Corhaven Graveyard
      • Calvary Methodist Church and School
      • First Baptist Church
      • Mount Jackson Colored Cemetery
      • Cemetery at Lantz Mill
      • Columbia Furnace
      • Liberty Furnace
      • Wolf Gap
      • Riverview Cemetery
      • Creekside Elementary School
      • Mt. Zion Methodist Church
      • Woodstock “Colored School” (1867-1937)
      • Spengler Home
      • Esbie Baptist Church
      • Sunset Hill School
    • Town of Luray >
      • Ulysses Simpson Grant Fry Restaurant
      • Tutt's Tavern and Home
      • Bethel Baptist Church
      • Bethany Veney Historical Marker
      • West Luray School
      • Butler's Store and Home
      • Jackson Store and Home
      • St. John Baptist Church
      • Jackie's Beauty Salon
      • Historic Andrew Jackson School Museum
      • Thomas Dougans Taxi Cab Co.
      • Tutt's Auto
      • Tutt's Upholstery and Slaughterhouse
      • Wright's Restaurant
      • Midway Inn
      • King's Restaurant
      • Earl Harris Barber Shop
      • Little Angels Daycare
      • Emmett Arthur Dougans Bridge
      • Hillside Cemetery
    • City of Harrisonburg Tour >
      • Jail Hill
      • William Strother House
      • Jeremiah Gibson Properties
      • Hite Family Home
      • Peters' Family Properties
      • The Blue Circle 30 Club
      • First Baptist Church
      • Doc Dickerson's House
      • Ida Mae Francis Tourist Home
      • Blakey's Barbershop and Upholstery
      • The Colonnade
      • Mary Awkard-Fairfax' Home
      • Effinger Street School
      • Roberta Webb's Home
      • Historic Broad Street Mennonite Church
      • Dallard-Newman House
      • Bethel AME Church
      • Miss Lena's Grocery Store
      • First Baptist Church (Present Day)
      • Johnson Street Community Center
      • Lucy F. Simms' Home
      • Lucy F. Simms School
      • Ralph Sampson Park
      • Mr. Martin’s Store
      • Harris Pool
      • Newtown Cemetery
      • John Wesley United Methodist Church
      • Edgar Amos Love Historical Marker
      • Exchange Club Park
      • Ott Dependency
      • 150 Franklin Street Gallery
      • Hardesty-Higgins House Visitor Center
      • Harry Lee's Shoe Shine Parlor
      • Rockingham County Courthouse
      • Charlotte Harris Historical Marker
      • Elon Rhodes Barbershop
      • World War I Memorial
      • Furious Flower Poetry Center
      • Harriet Tubman Cultural Center
      • Harrisonburg-Rockingham County NAACP
    • Rockingham County Tour >
      • Valley Pike
      • Smithland Historic Home
      • Long's Chapel and Cemetery
      • Wilson and Fortune Cemetery
      • Residents of Zenda
      • Pickering’s Farmland Enslaved Burials
      • Tenth Legion Churches
      • Tunker Monument
      • Moore Family Burial Ground
      • Linville Creek Church of the Brethren Cemetery
      • Issac Riddle Farm African American Cemetery
      • Bergton Fairgrounds
      • Lincoln Homestead and Family Cemetery
      • Mannheim Plantation
      • Oak Grove Church and Cemetery
      • Daniel Harrison House (Fort Harrison)
      • Rocktown History
      • Spring Creek Negro Cemetery
      • North River Baptist Church
      • Greenwood Cemetery
      • Roscoe Burgess Sr. Riverwalk
      • Mt. Crawford Community Cemetery
      • Mt. Moriah United Methodist Church and Cemetery
      • Marshall Jones House
      • Bogota Farm
      • Dungeon's Chapel and Cemetery
      • Jonathan Peale House
      • Riverbank Plantation
      • Blakey Farm
      • New Hope Church and Cemetery
      • McGaheyville's Rosenwald School
      • Mt. Sinai Baptist Church and Cemetery
      • Bible Way Church of God in Christ and Cemetery
      • St. Hebron Baptist Church Cemetery and Greenwood Family Cemetery
      • St. Hebron Baptist Church
      • Mt. Paran Church Lot
      • Newtown School of East Elkton
      • St. Paul United Methodist Church and Cemetery
      • Elk Run Cemetery
      • Rockingham County Bronze Turkey Statue
    • Augusta County Tour >
      • Mount Sydney Schoolhouse No.27
      • Spring Hill Negro Cemetery
      • Fairview Cemetery
      • Kenneth L. Jones Funeral Home
      • Pannell’s Inn
      • Richmond Beneficial Company
      • Franklin T. Jones Tourist Home
      • D. Webster Davis School
      • Abbot’s Beauty School
      • Mount Zion Baptist Church
      • The Snack Shop
      • Ebenezer Baptist Church
      • Effie Ann Johnson Nursery School
      • Staunton Tribune
      • Augusta Street United Methodist Church
      • Charles L. Johnson’s Restaurant
      • Cabell Log House
      • Kier’s Tailoring and Alteration Service
      • Dr. C.J. Waller and Oscar W. Marshall
      • Colored Masonic Mount Zion Lodge No. 18
      • John Chiles Dental Office
      • The Peoples Dime Savings Bank
      • Crawford’s Barbershop
      • J. H. Gibson Grocery Store
      • Free School for Colored Children No. 2
      • James M Morris, Attorney-at-Law
      • Green Street
      • Vickers Way
      • Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church
      • Queen Miller Orphanage
      • Central Augusta High School
      • Community United Methodist Church
      • Cedar Green Negro Cemeteries
      • Augusta County Training School
      • Hunter Cemetery at Shady Oak Station
      • Smokey Row Baptist Church and Cemetery
      • Montgomery Hall Park
      • T.C. Edmunds School
      • Booker T. Washington High School
      • Uniontown
      • Beverly Manor Baptist Church and Cemetery
      • Mt. Marine Baptist Church and Cemetery
      • Oak Grove Baptist Church and Cemetery
      • Oak Grove Elementary School
      • New Hope Churches and Schoolhouse
      • Crimora School
      • Morning Star Baptist Church and Cemetery
      • Mt. Lebanon Baptist Church and Cemetery
      • North Park Pool
      • Fairview Cemetery (Waynesboro)
      • Waynesboro’s Rosenwald School
      • Dr. Philip A. Hilton & Dr. Chavis Home and Office
      • Pleasant View United Methodist Church
      • McCutcheon’s Funeral Home
      • Abraham Hall
      • Shiloh Baptist Church
      • Elks Lodge
      • Tarry’s Hotel
      • Union Baptist Church
      • Steadfast Church of God in Christ and Cemetery
      • Beulah Baptist Church and Cemetery
      • Hatton Pond Baptist Church and Cemetery
      • Greenville Cemetery
      • Fannie Thompson House
      • Oak Hill Baptist Church and Cemetery
      • Staunton NAACP & Waynesboro NAACP
  • Exhibit
  • Local Black Businesses
  • Donate
  • Feedback
  • Press