Before Electricity

It was said that Woodstock was an unsafe place before the roads were paved and lights were installed. 

"A stranger who sees the place in day time never ventures out after dark.  It is a fact that Woodstock is spoken of as the most ragged, dirty, and uninviting county-seat in all of the Valley"
-From Shenandoah Herald, Vol. 58, No. 22

While the city streets frightened the few tourists who arrived to Woodstock, the Shenandoah River lulled the people into a sense of awe only miles away.

Shenandoah River near Woodstock copied from Art Folio of Shenandoah Valley (1924) by John Wayland. Click to enlarge.

The river had been a source of power to mills serving the people of Woodstock. Using its flow, several mills and dams operated along its shores, producing bushels of grain that would then be floated downstream towards the Potomac River.

"The flour was sold commercially and was shipped to Alexandria by flat boats that sailed down the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers."
-From Mills 7 Mill Ruins In Shenandoah & Warren Counties Virginia

Everything was done simply and slowly; that was the way of the river and that was the way of the people.

Flat boat taking goods downstream. Photo courtesy of Robert Moore. Click to enlarge.

"Shendo's waters gently flow
In the summer's noontide glow,
And the shadows idly play
Round my dream-boat's mystic way"
From Art Folio of Shenandoah Valley by John Wayland

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