Silver Lake Historic District

Rockingham County · dedicated 2021 · 2110 Silver Lake Road, Dayton

English American settler Daniel Harrison owned hundreds of acres in this area in the mid-18th century, and Presbyterians built Cooks Creek Church near here ca. 1750. German Baptist Brethren began moving to the Shenandoah Valley from Maryland and Pennsylvania at midcentury, arriving here by 1790. Brethren church member John J. Rife built a dam here ca. 1822, forming Silver Lake, and constructed a flour mill and a sawmill. This complex became the center of a prosperous industrial and agricultural community. A popular recreational site, Silver Lake began supplying water to Dayton and Harrisonburg in the 20th century. The 104-acre district is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

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under a mile from where William Gabby lived in the 1760s

what this marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years here

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