Editing Woodstock, Virginia (section)

=== Colonial era ===
The [[Shenandoah Valley]] region surrounding Woodstock was settled by [[Pennsylvania Dutch|Pennsylvania Germans]] who migrated south down the natural route of the Shenandoah Valley in the mid-18th century. The majority of these [[Germans|German]] settlers tended small farms that grew crops other than tobacco, were not slaveholders, and had [[Protestantism|Protestant]] faiths different from the established [[Anglicanism|Anglican]] Church in Virginia, which differed from the [[English society]] that was prevalent on the eastern side of the [[Blue Ridge Mountains]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.virginiaplaces.org/settleland/landshen.html|title=Encouraging Settlement and Land Grants West of the Blue Ridge|website=www.virginiaplaces.org|access-date=January 8, 2020}}</ref><ref name="auto15">{{cite web|url=https://worldhistory.us/american-history/colonial-america-shenandoah-settlers.php|title=Colonial America – Shenandoah Settlers|first=Gail|last=Bellenger|date=October 10, 2018}}</ref>

The [[Senedo people]] lived in the Shenandoah Valley around Woodstock, but they disappeared as a tribe prior to European settlement, possibly from attack by the [[Catawba people]] to the south.<ref name="auto11">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fA8ikAowjxAC&pg=PA60|title=A History of Shenandoah County, Virginia|first=John Walter|last=Wayland|date=October 30, 1980|publisher=Genealogical Publishing Com|isbn=9780806380117|via=Google Books}}</ref> By the time the German settlers arrived, few Native Americans lived in the Shenandoah Valley.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://accessgenealogy.com/virginia/exploration-and-settlement-of-the-shenandoah-valley.htm|title=Exploration and Settlement of the Shenandoah Valley|date=September 21, 2012 |access-date=January 8, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/cebe/learn/historyculture/natives-americans-in-the-shenandoah-valley.htm|title=Natives Americans in the Shenandoah Valley - Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service)|first1=Mailing Address: P. O. Box 700|last1=Middletown|first2=VA 22645 Phone: 540-869-3051 Contact|last2=Us|website=www.nps.gov|access-date=January 8, 2020}}</ref>  Several later tribes hunted in the valley, among them the Shawnee, Occoneechee, Monocans and Piscataways and the powerful Iroquois Confederation, so while not inhabiting the area Indians were likely not an uncommon sight.<ref name="auto15"/>  The seven bends have locations associated with Indian mounds dating back to the Late Woodland Period (AD 900–1650) in the area of the river between Woodstock and [[Strasburg, Virginia]]. After 250 years of plowing by settlers, the mounds have largely disappeared from sight, though traces of them have been detected with aerial photography

Relations between Indians and settlers were friendly.<ref name="auto5">{{Cite web |url=https://www.townofwoodstockva.com/DocumentCenter/View/234/1-History?bidId= |title=Archived copy |access-date=October 31, 2019 |archive-date=December 2, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201202124630/https://www.townofwoodstockva.com/DocumentCenter/View/234/1-History?bidId= |url-status=dead }}</ref> In the 1750s, settlers began to sense trouble when Indians moved further west, over the [[Allegheny Mountains]], where they were under influence of the French. During the [[French and Indian War]], the French encouraged Indian raiding parties against so-called "English settlers"<ref name="auto5"/> though most settlers in the Woodstock area were likely peaceable Germans. In the 1760s, there was constant danger of Indian raids, with some atrocities and brutality.<ref name="auto5"/> The last Indian raid in the area occurred in 1766, three years after the formal end of the [[French and Indian War]], about two miles south of Woodstock.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/cebe/learn/historyculture/cedar-creek-and-the-french-and-indian-war.htm|title=Cedar Creek and the French and Indian War - Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service)|first1=Mailing Address: P. O. Box 700|last1=Middletown|first2=VA 22645 Phone: 540-869-3051 Contact|last2=Us|website=www.nps.gov|access-date=January 8, 2020}}</ref>

Route 11, which runs through Woodstock, was originally an Indian trail that served as a route between the Catawba in the south and the [[Lengape]] in the north, which were warring rivals.<ref name="auto5"/> This came to be known as the Indian Road and was the main route for settlement and travel through the Shenandoah Valley. With many improvements, Route 11 has largely followed this route, which was later called the Great Wagon Road and then the Valley Pike. Jacob Muller apparently used this old trail in laying out the plans for the main street of what would become Woodstock.<ref name="auto5"/> Muellerstadt was the early name for Woodstock.<ref name="auto4">{{cite web|url=http://www.shenandoahcountyhistoricalsociety.org/view.php?history|title=Shenandoah County Historical Society|website=www.shenandoahcountyhistoricalsociety.org}}</ref>