Winchester City Map Poster

About Winchester

The area that became Winchester was originally inhabited by the Doeg tribe of Native Americans. It was settled in 1744 as part of the German Palatinate on lands granted by George II, and named after his wife, Henrietta Maria (Shenandoah is an Anglicization of a Native American term for "daughter of the stars"). The settlement served as a frontier fort along the upper Potomac River guarding against British colonial expansion from Virginia. In 1748, however, officials began granting land to settlers directly and indirectly related to Peter Shenk's family which had grown rich off tobacco trade with England; it would be incorporated into Frederick County in 1753.The town first called "Bermuda" grew quickly; it saw its first religious congregation organized in 1749—the First Presbyterian Church (which still exists). By seventeen years later there were also Methodists and Baptists.[7] Because many early settlers were Pennsylvania Germans who spoke German or Pennsylvania Dutch,[8] they initially referred to their new home as "the lower end.