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

 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 

The Characters and the Character of Arnold’s Valley

Stephen D. Beck, outgoing president of the Rockbridge Historical Society, will present RHS’ final quarterly program of the year, titled “The Characters and the Character of Arnold’s Valley.”

Held at 2:30 PM on Sunday, December 2, in the gymnasium at Natural Bridge Elementary School, this illustrated slideshow is free and open to all, with plenty of accessible seating and parking. Refreshments and fellowship will close the afternoon, along with a chance to browse historic displays and purchase RHS publications and maps for the gift-giving season. President Beck’s farewell presentation will be rich in archival images, historical facts, and material drawn from family stories and scrapbooks. But his approach is somewhat different from recent RHS programs that have centered on some of the lesser-known villages and communities of Rockbridge County. Beyond these more traditional records of Arnold’s Valley, he will more centrally explore the cultural impressions of this distinct corner of Rockbridge, as it’s appeared to other people across the area, over time.

Part of that foundational “character” comes from Arnold’s Valley’s unique location, as the only part of Rockbridge County south of the James River, tucked in on the western slope of the Blue Ridge. According to RHS Executive Director Eric Wilson, “Many people assume that our county line fully ends at the James River: that familiar historic axis just a few miles below Natural Bridge, the other dominant natural feature that gave Rockbridge its name. Historian Bob Deans has rightly broadened the river’s historic, iconic impact in his recent book about the geology, ecology and social history of the James, ‘The River Where America Began.’ But more locally, the river’s current and commerce provided a vital connection between Glasgow’s Balcony Falls, and the key crossroads upstream in Buchanan, linking the area to Lynchburg to the East, as well as to towns to the North and South on the Great Valley Road and Turnpike.”

In 1778, Rockbridge County was carved out from parts of southern Augusta County, and northern Botetourt County. A small triangle of land below the James was also ceded to Rockbridge, extending across the river its straight-edged dividing line with Botetourt, and thus defining an offset area that would come to be known as Arnold’s Valley. Wilson continues, “This terrain had long been traversed by Big and Little Hellgate Creeks, running down from the Blue Ridge. It would be bridged to the northern traffic at Skidmore Ferry, established in 1800, and the more notable Greenlee Ferry (where Jefferson and his granddaughter passed on a vividly recorded 1817 trip from Bedford County’s Poplar Forest to visit his properties in Natural Bridge). As the county, region and state continued to grow, southern Rockbridge would become more efficiently connected to the East and West by the local completion of the James River and Kanawha Canal in 1851.”

From these early markers of geography, jurisdiction, and commerce, Beck will survey some of the grounding 19 th and 20 th century foundations of the area: its topography, natural resources, agriculture, industry, businesses, employers, schools, and churches: even as those grounding features haven’t always aligned with the area’s lively reputation.  Over time, impressions about the “character” of Arnold’s Valley would also draw from its notable “characters,” whose lives memorably impacted their neighborhoods, and environs beyond. To further explore that play between local histories, stories, and lore, Beck will chronicle how the area’s reputation has been distinctly impacted by some of those colorful “characters” who lived and worked in Arnold’s Valley. Among those who left their mark on this enclave were Mary McDowell Greenlee, Francis Anderson, S.C. Burks, W. Paxton, James Gilmore, Miles Poindexter, and Martha Watkins, whose scrapbooks provided a key source for research. Many families such as the Austins, Campbells, Cashes, Coffeys, Hills, Johnsons, Lochers, Reynolds and Shafers all played their part, through the region’s ups and downs. Not all of the individuals and families who have contributed to Arnold’s Valley’s histories can be characterized within the scope of the program. But many current residents and descendants contributed directly to its background and materials, with their own stories, photographs, and tours.

Beck reflects, “This turn to Arnold’s Valley is a natural outgrowth of the program I shared a year and a half ago on Natural Bridge Station. It’s exciting to know when the community wants to hear more on any given topic. And it’s a good opportunity for the Rockbridge Historical Society to show our responsiveness to those interests. I’ve personally enjoyed the chance to keep discovering new leads, ledgers and archives. And I truly appreciate the personal connections that have come forth in our shared efforts to preserve and publicize these social, commercial, environmental and familial histories. I look forward to a lively Q&A following the slideshow. Come and be a part of it.”

Before the featured program, RHS will hold a brief annual business meeting, including biennial elections for five Officers. The Nominating Committee and RHS Board have approved the following slate of nominees, now to be voted on by the Membership at large. Those nominated to serve two year-terms as RHS Officers are: President, Mary Harvey-Halseth; Vice President, Harper Donahoe; Vice President for Property, Peter Simpson; Treasurer, Greg Frederick; Secretary, Paul Barron (2 nd Term).

After the slate is put forth to the Membership, other nominations for office are welcome from the floor. Contributing Members who have joined, renewed, or donated to RHS in 2018 are eligible to vote and encouraged to share their voice and investments in the Society’s future leadership. Contact RHS@RockbridgeHistory.org with any questions, or to inquire on your Memberships status.

Sunday, October 21, 2:30 PM
FREE RHS Program
Vesuvius Baptist Church (Rte 56)