Two Clore chairs donated
OCHS Research Assistant Ruth Mallory Long (left) and former historical society three-term board member Frieda Willey show off two Clore...
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Our newest publication, The Register of Free Blacks for Orange County, Virginia (1803- 1850)
The Orange County Historical Society is pleased to announce the publication of Ann L. Miller’s The Register of Free Blacks for Orange...
Orange County Historical Society
Sep 4, 2023
OC Historical Society: A History of the Orange Review
WRITTEN BY RAY EZELL Figure 1. The Green family in 1960, pictured from left to right: Duff, Angus, James W. Sr., Andrew and James W. Jr....
Orange County Historical Society
Apr 26, 2023
First 15 Years of Scouting in Gordonsville
WRITTEN BY RAY EZELL After its founding in early 1910, Boy Scout movement quickly spread to the urban centers of Virginia’s Commonwealth...
Orange County Historical Society
Jan 2, 2023
1908 Orange Fire
About 5:30 a.m. Sunday. November 8, 1908, a fire began in the apartment over Dr. Lawrence S. Ricketts’ drugstore on Railroad Avenue. The...
Orange County Historical Society
Nov 24, 2022
1909 Orange Fire
On Tuesday, July 20, 1909, downtown Orange was again visited by a disastrous conflagration that burned a significant section of Chapman...
Orange County Historical Society
Oct 3, 2022
African American Baseball in Orange
Like many towns in the Virginia Piedmont, Orange has a rich tradition surrounding America’s favorite past-time…baseball. Since the turn...
Orange County Historical Society
Jun 6, 2022
Orange Boy Scout Troop No. 1
On February 10, 2010, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) celebrated its centennial, having been formally incorporated in 1910. The BSA is...
Orange County Historical Society
May 9, 2022
Orange School for Black Children
The first schoolhouse for the town’s Black children was located on the lot currently occupied by the Preddy Funeral Home on West Main...
Orange County Historical Society
May 1, 2022
Col. James Taylor II
James Taylor II was born in 1673-34, in New Kent, Virginia. He married Martha Thompson about 1699 in Orange County, and they had at least...
Orange County Historical Society
Apr 4, 2022
Orange’s Black Boy Scout Troop
Troop 111, the only all-Black Boy Scout troop in Orange County, was organized in November 1967. The founding Boy Scouts were Harry...
Orange County Historical Society
Apr 3, 2022
The Gordon Inn
By Jayne E. Blair Nathaniel Gordon was born on August 20, 1763, to Col. James Gordon and Mary Harrison in Merry Point, Virginia and died...
Orange County Historical Society
Mar 14, 2022
Confederate Memorial Monument
The Confederate Memorial Monument erected on the Orange County Courthouse grounds was unveiled on October 18, 1900. The monument is...
Orange County Historical Society
Feb 16, 2022
Orange is Finally Incorporated
In 1749, the county court was moved to the newly designated county seat of Orange Court House from its location near Raccoon ford. During...
Orange County Historical Society
Jan 4, 2022
The Orange Standpipe
After the destructive fire of 1908 which destroyed a sizable part of downtown, Mayor Dr. Frank B. Perry and other town leaders decided...
Orange County Historical Society
Dec 29, 2021
President James Madison
James Madison was the fourth United States President (1809-1817) and is referred to as the “Father of the Constitution.” He made his home...
Orange County Historical Society
Dec 14, 2021
The Orange County Courthouse
Throughout its history, the court of Orange County has convened in seven different buildings (four courthouses and three residences). The...
Orange County Historical Society
Nov 10, 2021
Dr. Lawrence Sanford Ricketts
Born in 1867, Lawrence S. Ricketts was an Orange native and graduated from the College of Pharmacy, University of Maryland. He returned...
Orange County Historical Society
Jul 21, 2021
The Orange Memorial Playground
If you grew up in Orange in the 1950s, you may remember the large playground located on Belleview Avenue behind the current Orange County...
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