At the northeast entrance to Strasburg, along the Valley Pike, one passes several massive old structures of limestone. On the east side of the Pike is an old barn, in the walls of which are ventilating apertures resembling portholes. On the other side of the road are a couple of low buildings beside a copious spring of water. This is the Hupp homestead. It was, for many years, the residence of George F. Hupp, whose wife was a Miss Spengler. The buildings, it is said, were erected by the Spenglers, Mrs. Hupp's ancestors. The main residence, a large brick mansion, stood farther up on the hill, east of the Pike, where the ruins may still be seen. It was partly destroyed by fire about 1877. The stone building by the road at the spring was formerly used as a distillery.

George F. Hupp was a man of wealth and influence, who had been a paymaster, it is said, in the War of 1812. Later he was owner or part owner of three or four of the charcoal furnaces of Shenandoah County. At one time, we are told, Hupp had $42,000 due him for furnace products. This was a considerable sum in those days. The Hupp plantation comprised 1000 acres or more, and included Hupp's Hill and Hupp's Cave (aka Crystal Caverns). The Federal generals, Shields and Banks, occupied the Hupp mansion as headquarters.

Excerpted from John W. Wayland's A History of Shenandoah County, Virginia

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