SILVER LAKE: 200 Years of a Shenandoah Valley Mill & Community
| Author Cheryl Lyon | Forewords by Penny Imeson and Sam Funkhouser | |
| $34.95 + tax (and s/h, if applicable) | |
| 200+ pages, 9 x 11 inches, full color, softbound | |
| Indexed and ready for you in time for holiday giving! | |
| Within this book, you will find history themes that feel familiar today. Cheryl Lyon has been devoted to unearthing the details of life around the lake and at the mill. Not only is she adept at gathering the history, she is uniquely gifted in illustrating 200 years of stories. | |
| Review by Ellen Layman | |
| Readers of all ages will enjoy reading about and peering into the distant and recent past. | |
Written and designed to attract all readers, Silver Lake offers a thoroughly researched history based on dozens of primary source documents. Cheryl Lyon, who purchased the mill in 1999 and began the arduous task of overseeing its renovation, is an indefatigable researcher. Over the decades, she has conducted numerous interviews with former millowners, mill workers, and Silver Lake community residents. Her dedication to discovering the past and her extraordinary creative talent combine in this collectible new local history publication.
Author
Owner of Silver Lake Mill, Cheryl Lyon has had a life-long love of all things historical. After purchasing the mill over 20 years ago to house a business she accidentally started, Cheryl has had the opportunity to explore the remarkable history of the mill and surrounding community. Her research work and that of many others will be included in a new book, Silver Lake: 200 Years of Stories, to be released in the late fall.
Now retired, Cheryl spent her professional life in manufacturing and marketing, as well as her accidental business. She received a BS degree from Eastern Mennonite University (then College).
Review by Ellen Layman
Silver Lake: 200 Years of a Shenandoah Valley Mill & Community is a treasure of stunning photos, intricate maps and warm human-interest stories that relate the culture of generations of hard-working, community-serving Valley folk. Even as the book celebrates the 200-year anniversary of the founding of the lake and mill, it also takes the reader back thousands of years before 1822 when Native Americans settled in the area of Mole Hill.
The mill evolved and endured, rising from the ashes of the Civil War and absorbing the uncertainties of a farm-based economy. In each new cycle of life, the mill remained a distinctive core of Dayton’s identity. The lake holds precious memories – optimistically casting a line on the opening day of fishing season, lacing up skates when the surface turned to glass and, for some, doing a bit of romancin’ parked by the shore in the reflection of a shimmering full moon. And who could forget the fully-lit Christmas trees magically appearing in the middle of the lake as the holiday approached?
Silver Lake: 200 Years of a Shenandoah Valley Mill & Community is indeed a treasure, thanks to Cheryl Lyon, Randy Jones, and the Silver Lake Bicentennial Committee. Great job!
