[6] Woodstock comprises 3.2 square miles of incorporated area of the town, and is located along the "Seven Bends" of the North Fork of the Shenandoah River.

It was originally formed from a land grant from Lord Fairfax, and founded as Muellerstadt (Miller Town) in 1752 by founder Jacob Muller (or "Mueller").

[12][13] 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.

[10] 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.

George Washington was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, representing Frederick County, which the Woodstock area remained a part of until 1772.

Muller settled in Narrow Passage near Woodstock, and in the next few years his holdings grew to something between 1200 and 2000 acres,[17] and he proceeded to lay out a plan for the town, Mullerstadt.

[14] A few white settlers had preceded Muller, as the 1761 act establishing the town noted "several persons are now living there."

[14] There is no clear reason why the town's name was changed to Woodstock, though theories include it being renamed by Washington[14] or perhaps for a wood stockade used by the community as shelter from Indian raids.

Andrew Brewbaker, his son-in-law, became proprietor of his grant, supported by a board of trustees appointed by the General Assembly to govern the new town.

[18] John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg, a native of Pennsylvania who was formerly a soldier in the British Army and German dragoons, accepted a call to become pastor to a Woodstock congregation in 1771.

Muhlenberg became famous for his impassioned speeches in support of the American Revolutionary cause, helping to raise a regiment in the Shenandoah Valley among its German and Scots-Irish frontier population.

Elected to the United States Senate in 1801, he resigned to return to a revenue post in Philadelphia, where he died on October 1, 1807.

Frequently separated and detached to other units, the men of this tough, frontier-bred regiment served with distinction in many theaters of the war: White Plains, Trenton, Princeton, Short Hills, Cooch's Bridge, Brandywine, Saratoga, Germantown and Charleston.

The Civil War interrupted the work however, and the line remained a long spur from Strasburg, with Mount Jackson as the terminus.

While the area had an active Confederate population, it also was home to many reluctant secessionists, Unionists and families religiously opposed to slavery and war (Mennonites, German Dunkards.)

[14] General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson made Woodstock his headquarters during part of his Valley Campaign in spring 1862, using the small brick law office near the courthouse.

One small but significant cavalry battle occurred 4.5 miles north of Woodstock, at Tom's Brook on October 9, 1864.

After Fisher's Hill, Sheridan's Union cavalry pursued Jubal Early's Confederates south to Staunton, after which the Federals withdrew, devastating anything of military benefit in their path, a campaign known in the Shenandoah as "The Burning.

The Battle of Tom's Brook preceded by ten days the dramatic, large-scale and climactic battle at Cedar Creek (just north of Strasburg) between Early and Sheridan,[32] which ended in a decisive Union victory that smashed any real threat of Confederate power in the Shenandoah or invasion of Washington DC via the Valley.

Receiving intelligence on these movements, Confederate Maj. Gen. John C. Breckinridge scraped together all available troops, including cadets from Virginia Military Institute (VMI) in Lexington.

The Confederates were forced out of Woodstock so fast that several telegrams between Breckinridge and his cavalry commander John D. Imboden fell into Union hands.

Lantz Hall, a structure at Massanutten Military Academy, and the Shenandoah County Courthouse are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Woodstock is located along the "Seven Bends" of the North Fork of the Shenandoah River, which are seven significant meanders that are unusually sharp and tightly packed.

[45][46] The master plan for Seven Bends State Park was adopted on November 26, 2008 by the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR).

[47] The tower is a popular sightseeing attraction, providing panoramic views of the valleys on either side and of the seven bends of the North Fork of the Shenandoah River.

[49] In addition, the Fairgrounds host a horse harness racing season in September and October called Shenandoah Downs.

[50] The Shenandoah Valley's relatively dry climate, warm days and cool nights are conducive to producing good wine.

[56] The Shenandoah Valley is a relatively dry "rain shadow," as storms soak the mountains on either side of the Blue Ridge and Alleghenies.

[57] The growing season in the Valley is distinctly warmer and drier than in neighboring Virginia regions, which don't have the natural rain barrier from the nearby mountains,[58] and where, east of the Blue Ridge, vineyard soils are primarily clay and loam.

Route 11 is now the principal local through road connecting towns in the Valley and is dotted with historical markers and scenic points.