Initially known as Rocktown, Harrisonburg began as a crossroads settlement at the junction of the Great Wagon Road running north–south through the Valley and a major east–...
The opportunities presented by water travel appealed to settlers on a frontier. In the southeastern part of Rockingham County, where the North and South rivers meet to form the South Fork of the Shenandoah River, Port Republic was chartered in 1802 on twenty acres with two roads...
Located in the midst of lush farming country, Bridgewater is situated at the crossing of the North Fork of the Shenandoah River. By 1820, the site's abundant waterpower and location at the falls gave rise to growth as a port for shipping goods downstream to Port Republic and on to...
The Valley's turnpike towns offer a treasure trove of regional architecture, and the community of Dayton is no exception. Established as a town in 1833 following the charter of the Harrisonburg-Warm Springs Turnpike (now VA 42), Dayton prospered as a commercial center for the Mennonite...
The small and isolated community of Mountain Glen gained popular fame in the nineteenth century as the home of musician Joseph Funk (RH34). He established a printing press here in 1847 and conducted singing schools. With his growing...
One of the largest counties in Virginia, Augusta was created in 1738 to encompass much of the backcountry of Virginia, extending to the colony's original boundaries at the Mississippi River. The name came from Princess Augusta, mother of future King George III. Scots-Irish settlers...
Following the formal organization of Augusta County in 1745, county surveyor Thomas Lewis mapped the first plat of what would become Staunton. Though the twenty-five-acre property granted by William Beverley was initially deemed by the committee appointed...
Weyers Cave developed after the arrival of the Valley Railroad in 1874. The station was called Cave Station or Weyers Cave because it was the closest railroad stop to Mr. Weyer's Cave (now called Grand Caverns), one of the region's most popular tourist caverns in the late nineteenth...
Tucked into the Blue Ridge Mountains at Rockfish Gap along the South Fork of the Shenandoah River, Waynesboro is one of the oldest settlements in Augusta County. Platted in 1797, the following year the settlement was named Waynesborough (later reduced...
Middlebrook is one of the best-preserved rural villages in Augusta County. Platted in 1799 and enlarged in 1805 on one of the two improved roads between Staunton and Lexington, the village boasted several large dwellings and storehouses by 1803. Sources from the 1880s...
Created by an act of the Virginia legislature in 1777–1778, Rockbridge was one of several new counties carved out of what had been the southern part of Augusta and the northern part of Botetourt counties. The county was named for the great Natural Bridge, a feature much visited by...
Lexington was designated the county seat of the newly formed Rockbridge County by an act of the Virginia legislature in 1778. Named in honor of the Revolutionary War battle that had occurred only a few years earlier, the town was located on the Great...
Buena Vista had its birth in the land speculation that seized the Valley between 1888 and 1893. The name came from a nearby iron forge named for a famous battle in the Mexican-American War. In 1889, what had been an area of farms was suddenly laid off with broad...
One of several boomtowns to emerge in the feverish land speculation of the late 1880s, Glasgow, incorporated in 1892, seems frozen in time. Where other boomtowns such as Buena Vista continued to grow in the post-boom era, Glasgow did not. Glasgow developed following the construction of...
Established in 1793, Brownsburg developed in linear fashion with most of its buildings along the main road (VA 252). This was one of the major routes south from Staunton, and the town prospered in the early nineteenth century when most of its Federal town houses were built. Martin'...
Timber Ridge is historically important, not least as the birthplace of Sam Houston (of Texas Revolutionary War fame). Robert Houston acquired the land in 1742 from Benjamin Borden, the original royal patentee. Houston gave one acre for the building of a Presbyterian...
Situated between the Blue Ridge and Allegheny mountains, Botetourt is generously watered by the James River and its placid tributaries. The county's topography includes mountain ranges, ridges with good pastures on their slopes, the fertile Catawba Valley, and the Daleville area...
Established in 1772, the town was named for George, Lord Fincastle, son of Lord Dunmore, Virginia's last royal governor. County surveyor William Preston laid out the town on a grid plan. While the town's prosperity developed from its crossroads location, the discovery of...
The present town of Buchanan, lying on both sides of the James River, was formed in 1882 by the merger of Pattonsburg, established in 1788 on the north bank of the river, and Buchanan, established in 1811 on the south bank. The towns began to grow after 1851 when the James River and...
The scenic Highlands Region, nestled between the Shenandoah Valley and the eastern front of the Allegheny Plateau, is mountainous, thickly forested, and, not surprisingly, only sparsely developed. The George Washington and Jefferson national forests occupy a significant amount of the...
Known as Virginia's “Little Switzerland” because of its mountainous terrain, remote Highland County has the state's smallest population. The county is divided by parallel mountain ranges that form five well-defined valleys: from east to west, these are the Cowpasture, Bullpasture,...
Carved out of Augusta, Botetourt, and Greenbrier (now in West Virginia) counties in 1790, Bath County consists of narrow valleys and parallel mountain ranges. The Jackson and Cowpasture rivers are the county's principal water sources, and the George Washington National Forest covers most...
The village of Warm Springs is named after the pools of mineral water located across from the Old Bath County Courthouse and Jail (BA6). The springs, which maintain a year-round temperature of about 96 degrees, were...
Established in 1822 and named for the Allegheny Mountains that dominate its western edge, Alleghany County is a land of great contrasts. From the late nineteenth century, industry has been a mainstay of its economy, but these industries are situated in a mountain landscape of sublime...
Set in a broad bowl-shaped valley at the confluence of the Jackson River and Dunlap Creek, Covington is visually dominated by the huge Westvaco (AL13) processing facilities that lie just outside its boundaries....
Located at the confluence of the Jackson River and Smith Creek, and wedged into narrow valleys, Clifton Forge began in the early nineteenth century as a settlement named Williamson. After the Virginia Central Railroad reached here in 1850s, the community began to grow between the...
The narrow valley of Simpson's Creek, confined by the North and Brushy mountains, is home to one of the region's most important late-nineteenth-century iron industry communities, Longdale Furnace. Two cylindrical brick smokestacks and a brick machine shed, with gable roof and...
One of the state's smallest counties, Craig is located against the Allegheny Plateau and on the border with West Virginia. Steep ridges and narrow valleys define the county, which was cobbled together in 1851 from mountainous parts of Botetourt, Roanoke, Giles, and Monroe (now West...
New Castle, located at the confluence of Johns and Craig creeks and platted in 1818, began as a small market village and service center. After the Cumberland Gap Turnpike (now approximated by VA 42) was built through the county in the early 1830s, New Castle grew into a...
