Rockingham County surrounds the city of Harrisonburg in the heart of Virginia's Shenandoah Valley.  This region is an agricultural heartland with a distinctive culture and rich heritage.  The past certainly comes alive in a landscape filled with antebellum homesteads, historic churches, long-ago battlefields, ancient rivers, and unspoiled vistas.  Social studies teachers in Rockingham County enjoy the benefit of teaching history in truly historic surroundings.  From the Blue Ridge expedition of Governor Alexander Spotswood to the Effinger Street classrooms of Ms. Lucy Simms, the legacy of the past endures in Rockingham County.  This website features selected chapters from the pages of our varied history.