Zenda, Virginia

We enjoy exploring the byways in the Shenandoah Valley and the hills surrounding it. I got curious about one of the roads I saw that crossed I-81 north of Harrisonburg and went looking for it. Since it joined US 11, it was easy to find. It's called Fellowship Road and it led to Indian Trail Road, a scenic road that we've explored before.

I saw on the map that we were close to Zenda, which I remembered reading about in a local newspaper. There's an old church there that was recently fixed up along with the adjacent cemetery. We found the church and read the historical marker in front of it which starts out:

	"Long's Chapel was built in 1870, a year after William and Hannah Carpenter and the Church of the United Brethren in Christ deeded land here "to colored people… for … a church, burial ground, and a school house." Henry Carter, Milton Grant, William Timbers, and Richard Fortune, all formerly enslaved, owned two-acre "home plots" where the community of Zenda grew to 17 households of 80 people by 1900."
At the cemetery entrance we saw a monument with this inscription:
	This Memorial is for The Named and the Nameless, Who labored, suffered and endured are now at rest. Well Done, Good and Faithful Servants… Matt. 25:23. July 4, 1776 All men are created equal, they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights. That among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. USA LCPS 5 - 2010

Postscript: I submitted the Zenda marker to the Historical Marker Database.

See also: Long's Chapel Preservation Society