Dale Enterprise, Virginia
Encyclopedia
Dale Enterprise is an unincorporated community
in Rockingham County
, Virginia
, United States
.
, approximately four miles west of the City of Harrisonburg
along U. S. Highway 33 (the Rawley Pike).,, The community is shown on the Bridgewater U.S. Geological Survey Map and is in the Eastern time zone.
Dale Enterprise sits at an elevation of 1408 feet, on the northeastern foot of the 1898-foot high Mole Hill
, an igneous intrusion that is believed to have been the core of a volcano that has eroded away over the years.
Period of Record: January, 1893 – December, 2009
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, Union General Philip Sheridan
ordered all of the houses to be burned in retribution for the death of a young staff officer, Lieutenant John Rodgers Meigs
. Lt. Meigs was mortally wounded by Confederate cavalry scouts a couple miles southeast of Dale Enterprise on October 3, 1864. Many families in the Dale Enterprise vicinity lost their homes, farm buildings, and livestock in the ensuing destruction, despite the fact that most of the area families were pacifist Mennonite
s.
designated Heatwole as a "voluntary observer." Four years later, Heatwole set up the Dale Enterprise weather station.
The Dale Enterprise station is the oldest operating weather station in Virginia and the third oldest in the nation, and has been operated by the same family since its founding. The station is located in a farm field, “well away from buildings or hard surfaces.” As of early 2010, the station’s original thermometer
remained as a back-up to an electronic temperature sensor installed in 1994.
. The press also ran a tract concerning Mennonite baptism practices – Eine Verhandlung von den äusserlichen Wasser-Taufe (Harrisonburg, Virginia, 1816) originally written in German by Peter Burkholder. In addition, Blosser printed his own tracts and did custom work.
In the summer of 1909, the County school board razed the Piney Grove schoolhouse and built the new Dale Enterprise School on the property. A 1914 County schools history refers to the new school as "a beautiful three-room brick house," and notes that "[t]he house is supplied with water from the Harrisonburg mains, and is modern except its lack of sanitary toilets." The school included grades 1-7. Each of the three classrooms had “combined classes."
After the school closed in 1963, the building stood vacant until 1975, but since then has served several uses, including its present use as the Harrisonburg Unitarian Universalist Fellowship’s church.,
Unincorporated area
In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...
in Rockingham County
Rockingham County, Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 67,725 people, 25,355 households, and 18,889 families residing in the county. The population density was 80 people per square mile . There were 27,328 housing units at an average density of 32 per square mile...
, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Geography
Dale Enterprise is located at latitude 38.455 N and longitude 78.939 W in the Shenandoah ValleyShenandoah Valley
The Shenandoah Valley is both a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and West Virginia in the United States. The valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the eastern front of the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians , to the north by the Potomac River...
, approximately four miles west of the City of Harrisonburg
Harrisonburg, Virginia
Harrisonburg is an independent city in the Shenandoah Valley region of Virginia in the United States. Its population as of 2010 is 48,914, and at the 2000 census, 40,468. Harrisonburg is the county seat of Rockingham County and the core city of the Harrisonburg, Virginia Metropolitan Statistical...
along U. S. Highway 33 (the Rawley Pike).,, The community is shown on the Bridgewater U.S. Geological Survey Map and is in the Eastern time zone.
Dale Enterprise sits at an elevation of 1408 feet, on the northeastern foot of the 1898-foot high Mole Hill
Mole Hill (Virginia)
Mole Hill, located west of Harrisonburg, VA, in Rockingham County, is a rounded hill composed of basalt, a volcanic rock, of Eocene age...
, an igneous intrusion that is believed to have been the core of a volcano that has eroded away over the years.
Climate
Monthly Climate Summary for Dale Enterprise, VirginiaPeriod of Record: January, 1893 – December, 2009
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History
Dale Enterprise is at the northern edge of “The Burnt District,” an area in which in early October, 1864, during the American Civil WarAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, Union General Philip Sheridan
Philip Sheridan
Philip Henry Sheridan was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War. His career was noted for his rapid rise to major general and his close association with Lt. Gen. Ulysses S...
ordered all of the houses to be burned in retribution for the death of a young staff officer, Lieutenant John Rodgers Meigs
John Rodgers Meigs
John Rodgers Meigs was an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He is most notable for controversy surrounding the circumstances of his death, which led to the burning of a large part of a Virginia town in retaliation.-Biography:Meigs was born in Washington, D.C., into a family...
. Lt. Meigs was mortally wounded by Confederate cavalry scouts a couple miles southeast of Dale Enterprise on October 3, 1864. Many families in the Dale Enterprise vicinity lost their homes, farm buildings, and livestock in the ensuing destruction, despite the fact that most of the area families were pacifist Mennonite
Mennonite
The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after the Frisian Menno Simons , who, through his writings, articulated and thereby formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders...
s.
Dale Enterprise Weather Station
Lewis “L. J.” Heatwole, the son of David and Catherine Driver Heatwole, started keeping a weather diary at his parents’ farm in Dale Enterprise in 1868 at the age of 15. In 1884, the U.S. Signal ServiceSignal Corps
The Signal Corps is a military branch, usually subordinate to a country's army, responsible for the military communications .Many countries have a Signal Corps, whose main function is usually communication .* Arma de Comunicaciones, signals branch of the Argentine Army* Arma delle...
designated Heatwole as a "voluntary observer." Four years later, Heatwole set up the Dale Enterprise weather station.
The Dale Enterprise station is the oldest operating weather station in Virginia and the third oldest in the nation, and has been operated by the same family since its founding. The station is located in a farm field, “well away from buildings or hard surfaces.” As of early 2010, the station’s original thermometer
Thermometer
Developed during the 16th and 17th centuries, a thermometer is a device that measures temperature or temperature gradient using a variety of different principles. A thermometer has two important elements: the temperature sensor Developed during the 16th and 17th centuries, a thermometer (from the...
remained as a back-up to an electronic temperature sensor installed in 1994.
Blosser Printing Press
The Blosser Printing Press was established by Abraham Blosser in the late 19th century in his home near Dale Enterprise. His main publication at the press is noted as the Watchful Pilgrim, a semimonthly paper he edited and printed for several years, starting in 1880. David Taylor was the typesetterTypesetting
Typesetting is the composition of text by means of types.Typesetting requires the prior process of designing a font and storing it in some manner...
. The press also ran a tract concerning Mennonite baptism practices – Eine Verhandlung von den äusserlichen Wasser-Taufe (Harrisonburg, Virginia, 1816) originally written in German by Peter Burkholder. In addition, Blosser printed his own tracts and did custom work.
Dale Enterprise School
The history of the Dale Enterprise School dates to 1877 when Peter and Nancy Heatwole deeded about half an acre of their farm to Rockingham County for a school. The frame Piney Grove School was built on the property in 1885, in a pine grove next to the H & R Springs Turnpike, later to become U.S. Highway 33.In the summer of 1909, the County school board razed the Piney Grove schoolhouse and built the new Dale Enterprise School on the property. A 1914 County schools history refers to the new school as "a beautiful three-room brick house," and notes that "[t]he house is supplied with water from the Harrisonburg mains, and is modern except its lack of sanitary toilets." The school included grades 1-7. Each of the three classrooms had “combined classes."
After the school closed in 1963, the building stood vacant until 1975, but since then has served several uses, including its present use as the Harrisonburg Unitarian Universalist Fellowship’s church.,