The Harrisonburg-Rockingham Historical Society at Dayton, Rockingham County, Virginia is home to:
- the Harrisonburg Rockingham Historical Society
- an excellent genealogy library
- a gift
shop and bookstore
- an electric map depiction of General Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson's Valley Campaign
- temporary and permanent museum exhibits
- talks and lectures on local history, genealogy and folk art.
A fee of $5.00 for nonmembers buys one-day admission to all exhibits on display, the electric map and the library. All facilities are free to members.
- Genealogists: Online sources! Find your Valley relatives here!
- new
Previous HRHS
newsletters
(from 2000 - 2007)
- Make Donations online.
- Rockingham mill information.
- Rockingham WPA report transcriptions online.
- Site map
NEW - Take a Virtual Tour of HRHS
Click hereHighly recommended - Harrisonburg Downtown Walking Tours
Rotating Exhibit
A Century of "the New Method:" Photographers in Rockingham County, Virginia, 1850-1950
Miss Hartense DeVier's music class by William Dean, Harrisonburg
This exhibit runs from November 2009 - June 2010
What was sold in a real country store 200 years ago?
Find out in
Michael Baker’s Store Journal, 1804-1825.
Well-to-do Captain Michael Baker lived in Brocks Gap, Rockingham County, where he operated a store with a surprisingly wide range of merchandise, from whiskey to door locks to silks & velvets for the ladies.
Some customers came from 20 miles away on horseback to trade and buy goods. Many had charge accounts at the store and paid with bacon, fur skins, or their labor on Baker’s farm.
This store journal was passed down through the Baker / Harnsberger family who donated it to the Historical Society. Dr. Ellsworth Kyger transcribed it, and Pat Turner Ritchie, a Baker descendant, typed it. She included information on the Baker family and some Brocks Gap customers.
The book is an excellent addition to the history of Rockingham County.
$14
Fall 2009 Strickler
Lectures:
September 24 - 7:00 p.m.
The Life and Times of John Brown Baldwin, 1820-1853: A Chronicle of Virginia's Struggle with Slavery, Secession, Civil War and Reconstruction by John Hildebrand
October 7 - Annual Banquet and Silent Auction
click here for more information
A Century of
“the New Method:” Photographers in Rockingham County,
Virginia, 1850-1950.
Invincible Spirit: History in the Heart of the Shenandoah more
The Art of Tradition more
Wayland's 1953 Rockingham
County Post
Offices
Also
available via PDF
(165 kb)