Nineveh is an unincorporated community in Warren County,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, on the main road ( U.S. Route 522) between

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

, Virginia, and

Front Royal Front Royal is the only incorporated town in Warren County, Virginia, United States. The population was estimated at 15,400 as of 2023. It is the county seat of Warren County. History The entire Shenandoah Valley including the area to beco ...

, Virginia. Prior to the creation of Warren County in 1836, Nineveh was in Frederick County, Virginia. A

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

at Nineveh operated from the early 1800s until closing in 1954.

Geography

Nineveh is located in the

Shenandoah Valley The Shenandoah Valley () is a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and the eastern panhandle of West Virginia in the United States. The Valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the east ...

at at an elevation of 538 feet. It is situated along Crooked Run, a

Shenandoah River The Shenandoah River is the principal tributary of the Potomac River, long with two River fork, forks approximately long each,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed August ...

tributary.

History

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestantism, Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally ...

who arrived in the 1730s were among the earliest European settlers in the vicinity of Nineveh. The Crooked Run Quaker

meeting house A meeting house (also spelled meetinghouse or meeting-house) is a building where religious and sometimes private meetings take place. Terminology Nonconformist (Protestantism), Nonconformist Protestant denominations distinguish between a: * chu ...

was built near Nineveh before 1760, and Quaker worship continued there until 1810.

Baptists Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

also settled around Nineveh in the 1700s, and built the Zion Baptist Church, the oldest known church building in Warren County. A

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

congregation worshipped at the Zion Baptist Church before acquiring the site of the Crooked Run Quaker meeting house, and establishing the Nineveh Presbyterian Church (which now uses a

, Virginia, mailing address). In the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

Valley Campaigns of 1864, there was a skirmish on 12 November 1864 at Nineveh. Union Army soldiers Private James F. Adams and Sergeant Levi Shoemaker, both of the 1st Regiment, West Virginia Volunteer Cavalry, were awarded the

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, military decoration and is awarded to recognize American United States Army, soldiers, United States Navy, sailors, Un ...

for capturing flags from two

Confederate A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

cavalry regiments in this skirmish. Confederate

Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson in November 1862 was encamped at Nineveh."Interview with Stonewall Jackson," ''The Alexandria Gazette'', Alexandria, Virginia, 21 January 1863, p. 4.

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Warren County, Virginia Unincorporated communities in Virginia