RHS’ public programs are complemented by a variety of school-centered projects designed to enrich the educational standards of elementary, middle, and high schools throughout Buena Vista, Lexington, and Rockbridge, as well as independent initiatives for both high school and university students.
Local Tours
Rockbridge Historical Society takes schoolchildren on a walk through Green Hill and Diamond Hill, historically African-American neighborhoods situated up the hill from the Virginia Military Institute and Washington and Lee University. The tour covers the neighborhoods and reaches back into the very beginnings of Lexington, to the Knights of Pythias, to the First Baptist Church, to a talk about blight and revitalizing a neighborhood, to one of the most spectacular homes in Lexington: Blandome. The tour is an educational outreach for a small area that had a huge impact on the history of Rockbridge.
See also Historic Lexington Foundation’s annotated map, and Self-Guided Walking Tour of Historical Structures of Lexington’s Diamond Hill and Green Hill neighborhoods. Produced in conjunction with the 2012 Exhibit, ‘Dialogue with Diamond Hill: Oral Histories and Oil Paintings,’ co-sponsored by HLF and RHS, and hosted at RHS’ Remsburg Gallery.
For Grade 3-12 Lesson Plans focusing on the educational, cultural, and commercial impact of local leaders like Harry Lee and Eliza Bannister Walker, see “Resources for Teaching Local Black Histories.”