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
Take a Virtual Tour of HRHS
Click hereThe Historic Cromer-Trumbo House on the grounds of the HRHS will be open for tours the 4th Saturday of the month through August. See this link for further information.
NEW - Featured Exhibit - Opens August 14
Jed Hotchkiss, Shenandoah Valley Mapmaker during the Civil War
Jed Hotchkiss (1828-1899) remains one of America’s finest mapmakers. As
a topographical
engineer in the Second Corps of the Army of Northern
Virginia, he drew maps and made
sketches in the field, and he often did
so on horseback. His finished maps served the
Confederate officers in
planning military strategy. Today his maps are admired for their
remarkable accuracy and detail. They provide a vivid record of the
Shenandoah Valley during
the Civil War.
Follow this link for more information.
This exhibit runs from August 14, 2024 through April 30, 2024
HRHS is pleased to announce a valuable new resource for historians and genealogists for Rockingham County and surrounding areas. Death Notices in Extant Issues of the Rockingham Register by Dr. Dorothy Boyd-Bragg covers the first copies of the newspaper in 1822 until 1870.
The Rockingham Register was not merely a local paper but was a well-respected regional paper. As such, it published information about residents of surrounding counties such as Augusta, Shenandoah and Page Counties as well as notices of former residents who had moved west. During most of this period, reporting deaths to county officials was not mandatory. Brief notices in the newspaper may be the only source of death dates for many of the people who died during these years.
Whatever your interest in Valley history—genealogy, Civil War research, or general history, this book is a must-have for your collection. Death Notices is expected to be released by the end of February. In paperback with over 300 pages, it is $23.99 plus sales tax and shipping. To order, call the Historical Society at 540 879-2616 or write HRHS, P.O. Box 879, Dayton, VA 22821.
Programs to complement the opening of the Jed
Hotchkiss exhibit
Saturday, August 14, 11:00am
Program by curator Richard Stephenson about the Hotchkiss Exhibition.
click here for more information
Jed Hotchkiss, Shenandoah Valley Mapmaker during the Civil War - Opens August 14.
Follow this link for more information.
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)