Rockbridge County Real Estate 

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 Rockbridge County History

Rockbridge is the only county with that name in the United States. It was named for Natural Bridge, the giant stone arch that was surveyed by George Washington and first owned by Thomas Jefferson.

In 1737 Benjamin Borden was granted a 100,000 acre tract lying south of Lewis and Beverley lands in Augusta, on the watershed of the James River.

When Borden went to find his grant, he met Ephraim McDowell with his sons James and John, and Mary and James Greenlee on their way to settle on Lewis's land.

John McDowell was a surveyor and agreed to survey Borden's tract in return for a portion of it.

Several days later Borden and McDowell located the beginning of the tract, where the water flowed in a southward direction, and set up camp there, just over the Augusta line in present Rockbridge, near Steele's Tavern.

John McDowell's widow, Magdalena Woods McDowell, married Benjamin Borden Jr., and following his death, the twice widowed woman, one of the wealthiest in vast Augusta County, married John Bowyer.

The Bowyers built Thorn Hill in 1796, the first Greek Revival home west of the Blue Ridge.

Numerous Scotch-Irish settlers flocked to the area, and in 1770 Augusta was partitioned.

The portion that became Rockbridge lay partially in Augusta and partially in Botetourt.

Rockbridge was created in October 1777.

The county seat, to be built on 26 acres, 10 of it donated by Isaac Campbell, was named for the Battle of Lexington.

The Scotch-Irish believed in self-sufficiency, and soon after a cabin was built, most settlers began construction of a mill, to grind grain and saw logs.

Soon iron was discovered in Rockbridge and blast furnaces were built. Iron and iron utensils, lumber, flour and other agricultural products were loaded on barges and poled down the James River to Lynchburg and Richmond.

In June 1864 Hunter's troops burned their way through Lexington and Rockbridge County, destroying VMI and the home of former Governor Letcher, and looted Washington and Lee.

Rockbridge's biggest war loss, however, was Stonewall Jackson, who is buried in Lexington.

Besides Natural Bridge, Rockbridge County has several other natural attractions: House Mountain and other peaks, Balcony Falls, and Goshen Pass, a beautiful canyon through which the Maury River flows.

Rockbridge was the birthplace of Sam Houston, inventors James Gibbs and Cyrus McCormick, pioneer surgeon Epraim McDowell and Governor James McDowell, and home to Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee and Matthew Fontaine Maury.

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