Orkney Springs is a small town located at about 2300 feet in the Allegheny Mountains of Shenandoah County in Virginia. There were seven springs in the area which are important to its history and development and which form the headwaters of Stoney Creek.

Stoney Creek runs through a beautiful little valley and empties into the Shenandoah River near Edinburg. The lands surrounding the present-day site of Orkney Springs were provided by grant to Dr. John McDonald in 1774. The area was filled with medicinal waters, "chalybeate" in their nature. (Chalybeate waters, containing mineral salts, cause a bright yellow mossy fringe to accumulate on the rocks they touch or through which they pass.) Thus the first name for this place, presumably chosen by, or for, Dr. McDonald was "Yellow Springs."

There are local stories as to how the name was established as Orkney Springs. One is that the name was changed to honor Dr. McDonald who is thought to have come from the Orkney Islands, north of Scotland. Another is that George Washington, while surveying the area for his friend Lord Fairfax, named it after the Earl of Orkney, the first Royal Governor of Virginia (1704-1737).

The local settlers were well aware of the mineral springs in the area in the early 1800's and the community began to grow in the 1830's with commercial development evolving in the 1850's. Surviving from that great development period is Virginia House, a galleried hotel constructed between 1873 and 1876.

The oldest building in the complex is the 1853 Maryland House, also a galleried structure. Other hotels, specifically the Orkney Springs Hotel, built before the Civil War, are prime examples of early architecture. The Orkney Springs Hotel is listed in the National Register of Historic Landmarks. While many other spas have succumbed to fire, abandonment or demolition, Orkney Springs has survived.

Church at Shrinemont (Original outdoor area of worship for bathers of the springs) Currently owned by the Episcopal Church	One of the mineral springs "baths"

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