Saturday, Feb. 24, 3 PM
First Baptist Church Lexington
Jointly presented by the Rockbridge Regional Library, Rockbridge Historical Society, Union Baptist Church, Glasgow & First Baptist Church, Lexington, this free multi-media event will be hosted on the final Saturday of Black History Month, at Lexington’s First Baptist Church. Spanning the social and spiritual dimensions of enslavement and emancipation, the program’s featured historian is Prof. Charles Dew, acclaimed author of “Bond of Iron.” His remarks will be complemented by presentations and displays from other local history organizations, as well as church leaders, choirs, and soloists. The library’s Lexington branch is also holding a special related exhibit, from Feb. 12-23.
1867 Labor Contract between recently emancipated Sam Williams, and former owner D.C.E. Brady
Even while enslaved, Sam Williams held a private savings account in the Lexington bank, and bought goods for his family, including a pocket watch.
Sisters at the Loom: 19th Century Rockbridge Families & Fabrics
Sunday, December 15, 2:00 PM Manly Memorial Baptist Church 202 S. Main St., Lexington
Cap RHS’ 85th year with a deeper dive into our 2024 Exhibit, which was curated by our year’s final presenter, Frances Richardson. Her illustrated slideshow will discuss the origins of a project: drawn from the early 19th century weaving patterns inked onto small scraps of paper, shared with friends and family, and now preserved at Washington & Lee, and. More broadly, the representative group of “ordinary women, with extraordinary skills,” further highlights a range of everyday connections, financial exchanges, and social networks linking the farmsteads and stores near “Panther Gap” (near Goshen, in the northwestern corner of Rockbridge). Richardson will also discuss how these traces of material culture have helped to shape her own curiosities and practice as a weaver, joined by a wider group of fellow “Sisters at the Loom,” who have used these historic patterns – scripted and pinned by local hands two centuries ago – to create contemporary and often colorful reproductions of their own.
The complementary exhibit, “ROCKBRIDGE WEAVERS” remains open on weekends at the RHS Museum through December 2024 (Saturdays and Sundays, 12-4, 101 E. Washington St.). There, you can see live demonstrations on Richardson’s 6-foot antique loom. You can also learn about these histories virtually, via an online exhibit developed with staff in W&L’s Special Collections Archives and Digital Humanities Division. A video feature by the Rockbridge Report gives you a further glimpse of the displays and design, and clips of the weaving process, itself.
Before the featured presentation, outgoing President Larry Spurgeon will introduce the nominees for next team of RHS Officers, and provide an overview of proposed revisions to the RHS Constitution and By-Laws (you can review those updates, approved by the Board in November, HERE.Our contributing members are invited to vote for adoption of those recommendations, as well as the proposed Officer slate for 2025-2026: President, Tom Roberts; Vice President, Julie Goyette; Secretary, Cathy DeSilvey; Treasurer, Stephanie Hardy.
Cultivating Education: Lexington’s Black Schools and Churches, 1865-1965
Presented Eric Wilson, for VMI Black History Month
Tuesday, Feb. 20, 8 PM
VMI Preston Library, 5th Floor
In tribute to Black History Month, Rockbridge Historical Society Executive Director Eric Wilson will share a presentation entitled “Cultivating Education: Lexington’s Black Schools and Churches, 1865-1965,” sponsored by the VMI Office of Diversity, Opportunity, & Inclusion.” Free and welcome to all, Wilson’s presentation canvases 100 years – from Emancipation to the height of the Civil Rights Movement — when local schools and churches instilled a “Culture of Education” for Black students in Lexington and across Rockbridge County. Learn more about these distinctive legacies of learning, and reflect on your own histories of “How You Got to School.”
Sunday, April 30 3:00 PM Timber Ridge Presbyterian Church 73 Sam Houston Way Guided Cemetery Walk to Follow
On Sunday, April 30, 3:00 PM, W&L Anthropology Professor Alison Bell will present the Rockbridge Historical Society’s free Spring Program. A wide-ranging slideshow presentation, based on her just-published book tracing those themes more broadly in the Shenandoah Valley, will be held in the historic sanctuary of Timber Ridge Presbyterian Church (est. 1746). Join us to learn about four centuries of memorial traditions and commemorative themes in Rockbridge and the region. These evolving ritual practices have long shaped communal identities, while also providing creative, singular witness to a diverse sweep of our still ‘Vital Dead.’ Following the talk, Bell will lead a guided cemetery tour of representative tombstones and burial sites spanning the 18th-21st centuries, in the two neighboring church graveyards right across the road. For a continued run of relevant photographs, teasers, and tie-ins to the program and Professor Bell’s book, follow us on RHS Facebook and Instagram @rockbridgehistory.
Click HERE for the full News-Gazette article describing Bell’s program.
Sunday, March 26 2:00 PM Loop through Downtown Lexington
Sunday, March 26 2:00 PM Loop through Downtown Lexington
This free, intergenerational 90-minute stroll through local history loops you through a series of historic sites and presentations that spotlight leading ladies from the Rockbridge past.
Presenters from 6 partner museums, history organizations, and universities join to highlight this year’s theme of “Education and Civic Leadership.” Their accounts of interesting individuals and groups will illuminate the lives and networks of a range of local women whose impact was and is still evident in and beyond this community: in higher ed and local schools; in religious and charitable organizations; in medical and military service.
Doors open at the RHS Museum (101 E. Washington St.) at 1:30 to browse relevant exhibits, before opening remarks launch the walk at 2:00. The interactive tour finishes with a final presentation at First Baptist Church Lexington (103 N. Main Street), followed by a reception and a chance to explore additional displays of local histories. Welcome to all ages!
Saturday, February 18 1:00-2:30 PM Thompson Community Center 207 Catawba St., Glasgow FREE, Welcome to All
The Rockbridge Regional Libraries and the Rockbridge Historical Society partner for another Black History Month Program on Saturday, February 18, inviting you to celebrate the “Bond of Family.” An oral history roundtable will bear witness to descendant legacies of the Thompson and related families in Rockbridge County: from ancestors enslaved at Buffalo Forge who built new lives and institutions in the area after Emancipation; through the freedom struggles of the 20th century; and in new leadership and dreams today. Sing historic hymns with Glasgow’s Union Baptist Choir, see historic displays and hear excerpts read from the archives, and reflect on your own family legacies and inheritances, in the shared arcs of local community histories. For more details, click HERE
Economic Activity in Rockbridge and the Shenandoah Valley, 1750-1860
Kenneth E. Koons Sunday, May 22, 2:00-3:30 PM Gillis Theater (VMI Marshall Hall) Free
Join RHS in its return to community-wide in-person programming, with a richly illustrated slideshow presentation by Dr. Kenneth E. Koons (Emeritus Professor of History, VMI). Learn more about how the economic activity of early Rockbridge and the Shenandoah Valley depended not only on the development of local and regional agricultural networks, but on the important investments of early manufacturing in local villages and towns: from grist mills and sawmills, to iron furnaces and tanneries. This range of industry is also interwoven with a range of production in artisanal ‘shops’ run by blacksmiths, coopers, wagon makers, and others. Fellowship with Rockbridge neighbors invites you to explore local history displays, and a chance to browse or purchase RHS publications and historic maps. Click HEREto read more in the extensive profile in the Lexington News-Gazette.
