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Amissville VA - Post Civil War
The 1870s found the village recovering from the war with its first school house and founding of the Bethel Baptist, one of the area's first Black churches. In 1800 Amissville contained three churches (adding the Episcopal Church), a distiller, a hotel, two merchants, two physicians, a sawmill, Hinson's grist/flour mill, and 14 surrounding farms.
At
the turn of the century Amissville's population was over 150 and growing
slowly. A regular bus service established between Luray and Warrenton
used Amissville's Hackley's Store as a rest stop and driver change point.
The village's structures now spread along both sides of Viewtown Road
and what would become Lee Highway, an improvement of the route pushed
by the "Good Roads" movement and designed as a "National
Road" from New York City to San Francisco. A quarry south of the
village supplied materials for the construction.
The opening of Skyline Drive made Amissville a major stop for tourist
traffic as Lee Highway was one of its primary access routes from Washington
DC. However, the same highway and attraction which had stimulated the
growth of the village also had a major impact on it when in the 1970s
the old two-lane road was targeted for expansion to four lanes. It was
presented as a solution to the traffic backups, particularly in the fall,
which often extended from the National Park past Amissville. Unfortunately,
it also caused the buildings on the northern side of the village, many
over 100 years old, to be lost or displaced. It was possible to purchase
any structure in the path of the new lanes for $1.00 as long as you moved
it within 30 days! 
Today, Amissville is too often missed in a blur by passers-by traveling at 55 mph to other destinations. It retains, however, its rural village character and heritage. Amissville contains a community, a heritage, and a character that is becoming unique in the northern Virginia area.
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