When Virginia's colonial
Governor Alexander Spotswood led his famed Knights of the Golden Horseshoe through
the western wilderness and up the Blue Ridge Mountains at Swift Run Gap, he gazed
down on a borad valley that stretched into the distance. He could see the craggy
peaks of the Massanutten Range jutting out into the valley floor, the virgin forests
and meadows on the rolling hills below and, far to the west, yet another range of
mountains that framed the land. His awe was such that he wrote... "We have
discovered paradise."
Spotswood was not the first to view this place. Early Indian hunting parties
that roamed the valley felt its splendor and called it "Shenandoah"--
which means "Daughter of the Stars."
A place that has endeared itself to
all who have come...
But it was Spotswood who saw the potential of these westward lands.
Here, a growing colony could find fertile soil and a place where settlers could raise
their families.
And the settlers came. A great stream of pioneers from eastern Virginia, Pennsylvania,
and Maryland followed the Valley's natural waterways and land channels into the area.
When the Revolutionary War began, these same settlers helped fill the ranks of the
Continental Army. Pig iron, essential to the armaments of the colonials, was produced
here in abundance.
In 1778, Virginia Governor Patrick Henry named Rockingham County for the Marquis of Rockingham, one of the few friends Virginia had at the Court of London. The following year a prominent farmer named Thomas Harrison donated two and one-half acres for a courthouse, and the city of Harrisonburg was born. Today, the stately limestone Courthouse occupying the original site is a familiar landmark.
When the Civil War broke out, the Valley's productive farms helped feed the Confederate army and once again the forges rekindled to the tasks of armaments. Stonewall Jackson used Harrisonburg as one of his headquarters. Confederate cavalry leader Turner Ashby met his death just east of Harrisonburg.
After the destruction of the Civil War, Rockingham County experienced an economic rebirth. Agriculture and tourism flourished. People were drawn to the area's resorts and the active social life that revolved around them.
The stability of the area's economic base was tested during the Great Depression. But, as is still true today, the agricultural base proved as solid as the limestone bedrock.
The Past... The Present... The Future
Photos:
Mountain Panorama: Hubert Gentry, Gentry Photography
Court Square: Allen Showalter, King Photo
