Grottoes, Virginia

The Stephen Harnsberger House, also known as the Harnsberger Octagonal House, is an historic octagon house located on Holly Avenue in Grottoes, Virginia. The house was built in 1856, three years after the publication of A Home For All, or the Gravel Wall and Octagon Mode of Building by Orson Squire Fowler. Rather than following the tenets of the book, which suggested a radially-oriented plan with functions for every side, the plan of the Harnsberger house is more akin to a traditional double-pile center-hall house of the kind that was prevalent in Virginia at the time. The center hall is flanked by two very deep rooms, with smaller rooms behind, divided from the front rooms by chimneys. On both the basement and second floor levels a central passage extends the depth of the house. This is in contrast to the wedge-shaped rooms advocated by Fowler.The house exhibits Greek Revival detailing, typical of the time. Interior woodwork is mostly intact. The house received an ell addition to the rear housing a kitchen by 1890. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 8, 1982. Harnsberger's brother Robert built an octagonal barn a few miles away in 1867, which is also listed on the National Register.

Grand Caverns, formerly known as Weyer's Cave, is located in the central Shenandoah Valley in the town of Grottoes, Virginia, United States. A limestone cavern, it claims the distinction of being America's oldest show cave, in operation since 1806.In 1973, the National Park Service designated the cave a National Natural Landmark in recognition of its shield formations and other features, such as flowstone, stalactites, and stalagmites.

Port Republic is a census-designated place in Rockingham County, Virginia, United States. The Battle of Port Republic occurred there in the American Civil War.

Port Republic Historic District is a national historic district located at Port Republic, Rockingham County, Virginia. The district encompasses 45 contributing buildings and 62 contributing sites in the village of Port Republic. The district includes a number of archaeological sites that represent a wide diversity in type from residential to institutional, commercial, and industrial sites. They date to the village's years as a river port and industrial complex in the 18th and 19th centuries. Most of the buildings remaining now postdate the town's river port days, but many of these are late 19th-or early 20th-century replacements for buildings destroyed in the disastrous floods of the 1870s and 1880s. The village was at the center of the Battle of Port Republic which took place in June 1862.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

The Middle River is a 70.6-mile-long (113.6 km) river in the U.S. state of Virginia. Flowing entirely within Augusta County, the Middle River joins the North River, which in turn meets the South River at Port Republic to form the South Fork Shenandoah River.

Mount Meridian is an unincorporated community in Augusta County, Virginia, United States. Mount Meridian is located on the Middle River 1.9 miles (3.1 km) west of Grottoes. The Mt. Meridian Schoolhouse, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is located near Mount Meridian.Politician James A. Walker was a native of the Mount Meridian area.

Mt. Meridian Schoolhouse is a historic one-room school building located at Mt. Meridian, Augusta County, Virginia. It was built in 1886, and is a one-story, rectangular frame building with a gable roof. By 1890, the school had been enlarged to two rooms, which was later removed. The school closed in 1908.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

The Harnsberger Octagonal Barn, also known the Mt. Meridian Octagonal Barn, is located near Grottoes, Virginia. Built about 1867, the barn is possibly the only example of such a barn in Virginia, as the building style was more popular in the expanding midwestern United States in the immediate post-American Civil War era than in economically depressed Virginia. The octagonal style was popularized in 1853 by A Home For All, or the Gravel Wall and Octagon Mode of Building by Orson Squire Fowler.The barn was built for Robert Samuel Harnsberger in 1867, following the example of his brother Stephen, who had built an octagonal house nearby in 1856. The barn represents an adaptation of the octagonal concept to the site, incorporating elements of traditional bank barns. The barn's builders encountered difficulty in assembling and fitting the barn, requiring the assistance of other carpenters.The wood frame barn retains the traditional bank barn functions of a central wagon floor with hay lofts to either side, rather than a functional distinction between each of the sides as suggested by Fowler. As with a bank barn, accommodations for cattle are on the lower level, with the stalls arranged in a line rather than radially.The barn was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 8, 1982.

The Battle of Port Republic was fought on June 9, 1862, in Rockingham County, Virginia, as part of Confederate Army Maj. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's campaign through the Shenandoah Valley during the American Civil War. Port Republic was a fierce contest between two equally determined foes and was the most costly battle fought by Jackson's Army of the Valley during its campaign. Together, the battles of Cross Keys (fought the previous day) and Port Republic were the decisive victories in Jackson's Valley Campaign, forcing the Union armies to retreat and leaving Jackson free to reinforce Gen. Robert E. Lee for the Seven Days Battles outside Richmond, Virginia.

Deep Run Ponds Natural Area Preserve is a 706-acre (2.86 km2) Natural Area Preserve in Rockingham County, Virginia. The preserve contains one of the largest remaining systems of Shenandoah Valley sinkhole ponds in Virginia. Such ponds are found in Rockingham and Augusta counties; their water levels fluctuate throughout the year. The preserve's eight sinkhole ponds support a variety of rare plant and animal life; two ponds support the rare Virginia sneezeweed (Helenium virginicum), while others contain black-fruited spikerush (Eleocharis melanocarpa), northern St. John's-wort (Hypericum boreale), Buxbaum's sedge (Carex buxbaumi), and northern bog clubmoss (Lycopodiella inundata).The preserve is owned and maintained by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation. It does not include improvements for public access, and visitors must make arrangements with a state-employed land steward prior to visiting.

On September 23, 1985, Henson Airlines Flight 1517 crashed in Grottoes, Virginia, while on approach to the Shenandoah Valley Regional Airport. The two pilots and twelve passengers were killed.