Behind the history

After more than two years of writing weekly “History in the Valley” columns for The News Virginian, retired educator and school administrator Kenneth Stanley has single-handedly chronicled more than three hundred years of Waynesboro history.

But the local historian himself did not plan how far his columns would delve into the River City’s past.

“[In the beginning], I was thinking to myself, ‘I might be good for 20 articles.’ And it’s ended up being 138. But I think now I’ve pretty much run out of subject matter,” said Stanley, laughing.

A son of Waynesboro, Stanley’s roots run deep through the lolling hills of the Shenandoah Valley. His first ancestor in the area settled in what is now Hanover County in the 1680s; the clan moved south in 1932 to Page County.

Stanley says that tales of these family forefathers were an early impetus for his love of history. At the age of 9 or 10, he remembers watching his mother’s own zealous pursuit through thick courthouse deed books as she traced the family’s lineage.

“I don’t know … it was just something that captured my interest,” said Stanley. “About how people lived and how people live differently today than how they lived at one time and what caused a person to be here rather than there.”

So when former News Virginian Managing Editor J. Todd Foster requested that he share his knowledge with readers, he happily obliged.

After all, he had already established himself as a resident historian for tourists and commuters at downtown’s former Mad Anthony’s coffee shop, where he and his wife, Donna, shared a cup of the gourmet brew each morning.

“We would ask them where they were from and [tell them] that we were glad to have them in town and [ask] why they had chosen to come up this way and so forth and so on. Then they would start asking about Waynesboro, and that gave me my opening,” Stanley chuckled. “I enjoyed those conversations and dialogues.”

Having traveled much of the nation, Stanley says that he has found no match for his hometown.

“I’ve been over the United States, but I haven’t seen a prettier place than the Shenandoah Valley,” Stanley said. “I can find interesting things to do just by driving these country lanes that I haven’t seen before – or that have changed since yesterday – and be excited about it.”

The annals of Stanley’s research might soon be compiled into a book; he says the title will likely carry over from his articles. Not yet under contract, he hopes to eventually bind the historical pieces for use by area schools, libraries and museums.

He is also considering a work of Valley photography.

Stanley says that he looks to the end of his column with “a measure of regret,” but is open to what’s “around the next corner.”

Thankfully for the Waynesboro community, his exploratory nature is persistent, thorough and heartfelt.

“Through the years, it’s just something that I like to do – wade through the courthouses and see what happened when, with [whom],” Stanley said. “It’s more the investigation of something that thrills me – the finding out of something new.”

The rest is history.