Saturday, March 23, 2-3:30 PM
Begins: Lexington Library
Ends: RHS Museum, with Closing Reception & Exhibits

Celebrate Women’s History Month with leaders from the Rockbridge Historical Society, as they guide an illustrated and interactive community ‘Walk-and-Talk,’ spotlighting a wide sweep of distinctive if often little-known local histories.  Begins with a slideshow at the Lexington public library; continues with a history stroll down Main Street; wraps with a reception at the RHS Museum, and a final chance to see its exhibits on “Rockbridge Women’s Histories.”  Click HERE for more illustrations, profiles, and contexts.

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.

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.

Presentation Slides from Prof. Bell, HERE

Interpretive Guide and Map for Timber Ridge Cemeteries

Descendant Legacies of Garland Thompson, Sr.

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 HERE to read more in the extensive profile in the Lexington News-Gazette.

‘Rockbridge Rails‘

Byron Faidley, W&L Special Collections & Lee Chapel Museum  

Sunday, Feb.9, 2:30 PM
Manly Memorial Baptist Church 
202 S. Main Street Lexington, FREE

The Railroads Roar Back, to Rockbridge!!  Join RHS’ first FREE public program of 2020 at the historic Manly Memorial Baptist Church, on Sunday, Feb.9.  W&L’s Byron Faidley will share a slideshow presentation, “Rockbridge Rails,” that examines the growth and decline of local railroads since their arrival here 150 years ago.  

Historic photographs, maps, and anecdotes will offer new perspectives on their influence on our county’s economy, culture, and connections to other parts of the Valley and Virginia.  Family-friendly, for train-lovers and historians of all ages! 

For more, see RHS Facebook.  

“Greening the Past in the RHS Gardens: Lunch Box Garden Talk”
Thursday, June 27, 12:00 PM, FREE
Picnic Tables in shaded RHS Gardens; behind the RHS Museum, 101 E. Wash. St

As part of the Rockbridge Area Master Gardeners’ series of “Lunch Box Garden Talks,” Rockbridge Historical Society Executive Director Eric Wilson will discuss RHS’ gardens, landscape, and the three historic properties surrounding them (The Castle, Sloan House, and Campbell House).  Open to the community, with schoolchildren especially encouraged, the free event will be held outside in the gardens behind the RHS Museum, at 12:00 PM, Thursday June 27.  Bring a lunch to eat, with seating available at the shaded picnic tables, accessed via the driveway just below the RHS entrance at 101 E. Washington St., Lexington.

Wilson notes, “During the presentation, I’ll circulate a range of historical property maps, landscape designs, and archival photographs illustrating a century’s growth in this leafy, limestone-terraced site.  Some bygone features – including a greenhouse used by Dr. Campbell, and the neighboring, looming downtown livery barn, where the new Courthouse now stands –will further highlight RAMGA’s longstanding care and creativity in cultivating our unique downtown greenspace.”

“Located right downtown, and free to all daily, it’s an often overlooked asset we hope the community will take fuller advantage of: an accessible, shaded, comfortable space for conversation, or calm reflection on the value of Rockbridge’s historic and natural resources. Onsite or beyond, you can further enrich your appreciation through the two excellent interpretive brochures RAMGA has prepared, posted on our website at RockbridgeHistory.org/Campbell-House-Gardens.”

Beyond the specific site, further context will emerge with other local examples of “natural history”: touching on historic trails, local garden clubs, and nearby achievements of landscape architecture; the iconic draw of Natural Bridge and the growth of eco-tourism as Virginia’s newest State Park; to the social histories of farming, and the new exhibit on ‘Rockbridge Barns’ (jointly presented by Historic Lexington Foundation and RHS, with an Opening Reception at the RHS Museum on July 5, 5:00 – 7:00 PM).

W&L Anthropology Professor Alison Bell will also join to provide fresh insights on the archaeological discovery of the remains of ‘Miss Jane,’ found behind the RHS Museum & Gardens during excavation of the Courthouse parking garage.  Local African-American histories can be newly illuminated from these grounds, literally and figuratively, alongside environmental conditions of the 19^th century.  Fittingly, medicinal herbs and floral cuttings from the new RAMGA/ RHS Historic Healing Garden graced Jane’s coffin, when it was recently re-interred at Evergreen Cemetery.

The final stretch of the hour’s interactive program will open more broadly to group conversation about the evolution and connection of Rockbridge’s history and its environmental resources.

For anyone interested in extending these connections to other themes and artifacts representing Rockbridge histories, Wilson will lead a guided tour inside the RHS Museum, following the program.  If the weather is poor, gather inside the Museum for lunch and the presentation; afterwards, any interested guests can then tote an umbrella for a guided walk out back, enjoying the color of the flowers, and the summer showers sustaining them.

The day’s site and stories all offer a great way to enjoy lunch with Rockbridge neighbors in the summer shade, and to further cultivate a joint appreciation of nature, and local history. For more, see RHS Facebook or contact RHS@RockbridgeHistory.org.

Join RHS on St. Patrick’s Day for this free, family-friendly, interactive walking tour in downtown Lexington, focused on Rockbridge women who impacted local and national histories across the 18^th-21th centuries. Tour begins and ends at RHS’ Museum where you can see many artifacts relevant to these specific lives, in the heart of Women’s History Month.

The dozen women chosen for the tour draw from four centuries of local history.  They range from the first white female settler in 18^th century Rockbridge, to women who survived frontier violence and the 1864 Civil War attack and occupation of Lexington.  They constellate 20^th and 21^st-century performing artists, activists, and community leaders who founded a range of organizations dedicated to preserving history and the environment, cultivating audiences for the arts, music, and literature.  In the vital arenas of education, one helped lead the charge to build better schools and relief organizations for local African-American citizens in the 1920s, while another played a key role in finally bringing co-education to one of the oldest universities in the nation, in 1985.

Staff from the Stonewall Jackson House, and George C. Marshall Museum will also share stories along the way, recruited to interpret often underestimated roles that women played in the lives and more traditional narratives chronicling those generals.  Questions and conversation are very much encouraged during the walk itself, but before wrapping up at 4:00 PM, attendees can also share their voices, reflections, and direct family ties in quieter, seated discussions at the Museum.

For a full write-up, with illustrated profiles, click HERE