History of Front Royal

existence by 1736. The town also had a well-known nickname by the 1790s, "Helltown," due to the many livestock wranglers and boatmen on the Shenandoah coming through the area, who came into town looking for alcohol. It was incorporated as "Front Royal" in 1788.

The origin of the name "Front Royal" remains uncertain. One version holds that, in early decades of European settlement, the area was referred to in French as "le front royal," meaning the British frontier. French settlers, trappers, and explorers in the Ohio Territory of the mid-18th century were referring to the land grant made by King Charles II, then in control of Thomas, Lord Fairfax, Baron of Cameron. In English, "le front royal" is translated to the "Royal Frontier." The British themselves may have called the area "Front Royal" after 1763, when they set the so-called Proclamation Line along the spine of the Alleghenies to demarcate the settled portion of the colonies from the Indian Reserve in the interior.

However, another legendary version of the origin of the name has it that, during colonial days, a giant oak tree - the "Royal" Tree of England - stood in the public square where Chester and Main Streets now join. It was there that the local militia, composed of raw recruits slow to learn military commands and maneuvers, were drilled. On one occasion, the sorely tired drill sergeant became so exasperated by the clumsy efforts of his troops and their failure to follow his command that he hit upon a phrase that all could understand and shouted, "front the Royal Oak!" Among the spectators was a former professional soldier. He was so amused by the officer's coined order that he and his friends found much sport in telling the story, repeating "front the Royal Oak" until Front Royal was the resulting derivation.

Still a third account holds that when local militia were stationed around the town during the American Revolution, the sentry would call out