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      • The Worst First: Novel Plagues Hit America (1492-1758)
      • Running to the Hill: Smallpox and Sanitation in Colonial Times (1758-1760)
      • Another Scourge Among Many: Epidemics in the Civil War (1861-1865)
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      • It Didn’t Fade: Mildred Lee Grove and Tuberculosis (1930s-Late Twentieth Century)
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Newtown History Center

Explore the 2nd Oldest Town in the Shenandoah Valley

Running to the Hill: Smallpox and Sanitation in Colonial Times (1758-1760)

Although Europeans and Africans had some resistance to the diseases that devastated Indigenous Americans, this resistance was not immunity. They were also vulnerable to epidemics in colonial times, and Winchester gave a prime example of this in 1759.

In the 18th century Winchester and Stephens City (then Stephensburg) were rivals for the right to be county seat. Winchester eventually won out, but when smallpox hit that town on July 3rd, the local government relocated to Stephensburg in a wholesale form of social distancing. Unfortunately it appears smallpox had spread to Stephensburg by October, but the county government continued to meet there until the spring of 1760.

Local politician James Wood being paraded through Winchester after an election, July 1758. Image courtesy of the Handley Library Collection, Stewart Bell, Jr. Archives Room, Handley Regional Library, Winchester, VA.
Local politician James Wood being paraded through Winchester after an election, July 1758. Image courtesy of the Handley Library Collection, Stewart Bell, Jr. Archives Room, Handley Regional Library, Winchester, VA.

Early Stephensburg had an advantage on Winchester: elevation. In 1775 a traveler called Winchester a “low and disagreeable place.” He did not mean it was a wretched hive of scum and villainy. He meant its low elevation made it unhealthy. Sewage from the town settled there rather than washing away. Although smallpox does not spread from dirty water, other diseases, like cholera, do.

Unlike Winchester, Stephensburg was on a hill. This means rainfall would wash filth and sewage downhill, away from town. Even though colonial hygiene was not as bad as the stereotypes portray, people did not yet understand that germs in dirty water caused disease. So in those early days, Stephensburg’s location made it a little cleaner—and safer—than Winchester. But as the next page will show, Stephensburg could still face epidemics.

Town Run as seen from Kent Street: one of the streams over which Winchester was built. Image by Rick Kriebel, the Stone House Foundation.
Town Run as seen from Kent Street: one of the streams over which Winchester was built. Image by Rick Kriebel, the Stone House Foundation.

Further Information:
http://www.pennsburymanor.org/colonial-hygiene-the-dirty-truth-by-kelly-white/

https://www.bioexplorer.net/history_of_biology/microbiology/

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Virtual Exhibits

  • Pandemics in New Town
  • The Worst First: Novel Plagues Hit America (1492-1758)
  • Running to the Hill: Smallpox and Sanitation in Colonial Times (1758-1760)
  • Another Scourge Among Many: Epidemics in the Civil War (1861-1865)
  • The Spanish Flu: The Story of Gervis Lemley (1918-1919)
  • It Didn’t Fade: Mildred Lee Grove and Tuberculosis (1930s-Late Twentieth Century)

Stone House Restoration Project Progress Updates

  • Completion of the Gutters and Other Progress
  • Painting of the Soffit and Crown
  • Painting Preparations for the Crown Molding

Upcoming Events

What We Do

With the town of Stephens City as its focus, the Foundation seeks to interest and engage residents, visitors, scholars and students in the events, lifeways and material culture of the region. We also strive to promote the preservation of the buildings, artifacts and landscapes that are associated with the history of the town of Stephens City.

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PO Box 143 (USPS Mail)
5408 Main Street (FedEx/UPS Deliveries)
Stephens City, VA 22655-0143

Phone: (540) 869-1700
E-mail: info@newtownhistorycenter.org

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