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Rockbridge County is named for Natural Bridge, one
of the seven natural wonders of the world. As a young man, George
Washington surveyed the arch, and you may still see his initials carved
in the rock. In 1774 Thomas Jefferson bought Natural Bridge from King
George III. A few years later, in 1778, Rockbridge County was created
from parts of neighboring Augusta and Botetourt Counties. The county
seat, Lexington, was named for the town in Massachusetts where one of
the first battles of the American Revolution took
place.
From its beginning, Rockbridge County has been a
center of learning, of agriculture, and of tourism.
Lexington is home to one of America’s oldest
universities, Washington and Lee, and to the nation’s oldest state
military school, Virginia Military Institute.
Tourists have long been attracted to Rockbridge
County’s scenic wonders, including the Blue Ridge Mountains, the
Shenandoah Valley, Goshen Pass and, of course, Natural Bridge.
Rockbridge County has been the home of many notable
Americans:
·
Sam Houston, father of Texas’ independence, was born
near Lexington. His birthplace is marked by an historical marker near
U.S. Highway 11 north of Lexington
·
Confederate general Stonewall Jackson lived in Lexington,
taught at Virginia Military Institute, and is buried in Stonewall
Jackson cemetery here. You can visit his house in Lexington, the only
house Jackson ever owned.
·
General Robert E. Lee was president of Washington College
(later named Washington and Lee in his honor) after the Civil War. Lee
is buried in the family crypt beneath the Lee Chapel on the W&L
campus.
·
Cyrus McCormick invented the mechanical reaper at his farm
north of Lexington. It revolutionized agriculture worldwide. The
McCormick Farm and Museum is near Raphine.
·
Margaret Junkin Preston, “The Poetess of the South,”
was one of Virginia’s best-known women during the Civil War era. She
married J.T.L. Preston, one of the founders of V.M.I., and their house
remains a landmark in downtown Lexington.
·
Frank Padgett, a slave, saved the passengers of a canal
boat caught in the rapids of the James River, and drowned attempting the
final rescue. A monument honoring Padgett was erected in the 1850s and
is currently located in Glasgow.
·
On March 29, 200l former President Jimmy Carter came to
VMI to receive the Jonathan Myrick Daniels Humanitarian Award. Daniels,
a 1961 VMI graduate, is one of two 20th century Americans
enshrined as martyrs in England’s Canterbury Cathedral (the other is
Martin Luther King) During a 1965 civil rights demonstration in Alabama,
Daniels stepped in front of a shotgun blast, saving the life of young
Ruby Sales at the cost of his own.
·
George C. Marshall, America’s highest-ranking soldier in
World War II and developer of the postwar Marshall Plan for European
recovery, was educated at Virginia Military Institute. The Marshall
Museum on the V.M.I. Parade Ground commemorates his life.
·
Matthew Fontaine Maury, “The Pathfinder of the Seas,”
charted the course for the first transatlantic telegraph cable. He
served the Confederacy in several posts and, after the Civil war, taught meteorology at
VMI, a position he held until his death.
The Rockbridge area is home not just to many historical
figures, but also to some well-known people in today's
world. Internationally famed modern artist Cy Twombly, TV evangelist Pat
Robertson, and acclaimed photographer Sally Munger Mann (who continues
to live in the Rockbridge area) were all born in Lexington.
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