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The Town of Front Royal, according to the Front Royal-Warren County Chamber of Commerce, owes its birth to the crossing of trails.
The town grew up where the trails from Manassas and Chester Gaps met at the foot of the Blue Ridge near the mouth of Happy Creek.
The town’s history, it is said, illustrates the observation “a bad beginning means a good ending.” Historical chronicals say that “all the wild and lawless spirits of the surrounding county flocked into the little hamlet,” then known (appropriately) as Helltown.
Peter Lehew, a persecuted Huguenot, had fled from France to America concealed in a hogshead, and in 1754, settled at the future site of Front Royal. He bought 200 acres “lying on both sides of Treato Happy Creek” and divided the land among his sons.
In 1778, the town was incorporated as Front Royal. The name is explained as follows:
In Colonial Days, a giant oak, the royal tree of England, stood in the public square where Chester and Main Streets now join. There on Muster Days was drilled the local militia, composed of raw recruits slow to learn military commands and maneuvers. On one occasion, the sorely tried drill sergeant became so exasperated by the clumsy
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