Historic Rockbridge County, Virginia Quiz

Answer: The Natural Bridge of Virginia

The Natural Bridge is a natural limestone arch carved out of limestone strata. It is 215 ft (66 m) high with a span of 90 ft (27 m) and consists of horizontal limestone strata, a result of erosion of limestone by the flowing water of Cedar Creek. The Natural Bridge was one of the wonders of the new world that Europeans visited during the 18th and 19th centuries. U.S. Highway 11 passes over the Natural Bridge and most people have no idea they have passed over a natural wonder.

The Natural Bridge is one of the premier tourist attractions on the East Coast and is truly a sight to behold.

Answer: George Washington

From 1748 to 1752 George Washington traveled with a surveying party plotting land in Virginia's western territory to include the Natural Bridge in 1750. He even carved his initials into the limestone under the bridge! Thomas Jefferson first viewed the Natural Bridge in 1767 and purchased a 157 acre parcel, which included the Natural Bridge, from King George III in 1774 for a princely sum of 20 shillings for all of it! Jefferson would travel by horse from his estate at Monticello in Albemarle County and spend time at his property at the Natural Bridge.

This was before he was elected as the third President of the United States in 1801.

Answer: Battle of Lexington-Concord in Massachusetts

The Virginia Legislature created Rockbridge County in 1778 and named Lexington as its county seat. Lexington was named in for the Battle of Lexington-Concord which had occurred only three years earlier. The town was located in the center of the county where the Great Wagon Road crossed the North River at Gilbert Campbell's Ford. The original town, established in 1747, was 1300 feet long and 900 feet wide and was laid out in a grid pattern which included what is today the greater part of the city of Lexington's Central Business District.

Answer: Virginia Military Institute (VMI)

VMI was founded in 1839 on the site of the state arsenal in Lexington and graduated its first class of 16 cadets in 1842. During the Civil War, Union forces shelled and burned VMI almost to the ground as part of the Valley Campaigns of 1864. The Institute rebuilt and is today a truly magnificent facility. VMI graduates have distinguished themselves in every war since 1842. Probably its most well known graduate is 5 star general George Marshall, author of the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe after WWII.

The college has been co-ed since 1997 and has a student population of 1,250.

Answer: Thomas Jonathan Jackson

"Stonewall" Jackson graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1846, fought in the Mexican-American War from 1846 to 1848, then accepted a teaching position at VMI, in Lexington, Virginia in 1851 where he became Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy and Instructor of Artillery.

After a tour in Europe, Jackson lived in Lexington until 1859 when he was called to serve in the Confederacy. He never returned home. Jackson was accidentally shot by Confederate pickets at the Battle of Chancellorsville on May 2, 1863.

The general survived the amputation of his arm but died of pneumonia eight days later. He is buried in Stonewall Jackson Cemetery in Lexington.

Answer: George Washington

George Washington endowed Liberty Hall Academy in Lexington with $20,000 worth of stock which in 1796 was a huge amount of money. This endowment saved the academy from almost certain insolvency and in appreciation the Academy changed its name to Washington Academy and in 1813 was chartered as Washington College.

After the Civil War ended in 1865, General Robert E. Lee served as its college president for 5 years until his death in 1870 and the college almost immediately changed its name to Washington and Lee University (W&L). W&L, known for its liberal arts program and law school, is the ninth oldest institution of higher education in the United States a has a student population of 7,000.

Answer: Washington College

After the Civil War ended, Lee turned down several lucrative offers of employment and accepted the post of college president at Washington College. Lee made great strides transforming the small college into a forward-looking institution of higher education.

He established the first journalism courses, added both a business school and a law school to the college curriculum and established an Honor System. Lee died on October 12, 1870 after serving only 5 years. Almost immediately the college changed its name to Washington and Lee University (W&L). Robert E. Lee and most of his family are buried in Lee Chapel which is on the W&L campus.

His famous horse Traveler is also on display there!

Answer: Samuel "Sam" Houston

Sam Houston's grandparents migrated from Pennsylvania to the Timber Ridge area of Rockbridge County, Virginia, in the mid-1700s. Samuel (Sam) Houston was born there on March 2, 1793, the fifth of nine children and the youngest of five sons. When he was 14 his family migrated to Maryville, Tennessee and at age 16 he ran away from home.

He is the only man to be Governor of two U.S. states (Texas and Tennessee), victor at the Battle of San Jacinto, President of the Republic of Texas, and U.S. Senator. Houston's biography is truly fascinating.

His birthplace marker is a 38,000 pound piece of pink Texas granite at the Sam Houston Wayside located on U.S. Route 11, 5 miles north of Lexington, Virginia.

Answer: Matthew Fontaine Maury

Maury was born in 1806 in Spotsylvania County, Virginia but grew up in Tennessee. At age 19 he obtained a Naval appointment through the influence of Senator Sam Houston in 1825. He served in the United States Navy, was an American astronomer, historian, oceanographer, meteorologist, cartographer, author, geologist, and educator.

He was nicknamed "Pathfinder of the Seas" and "Father of Modern Oceanography and Naval Meteorology" and later, "Scientist of the Seas," due to the publication of his extensive works in his books, especially The Physical Geography of the Sea (1855), the first extensive and comprehensive book on oceanography to be published. Maury made many important new contributions to charting winds and ocean currents, including ocean lanes for passing ships at sea.

He died in Lexington in 1873.

Answer: George Catlett Marshall, Jr.

General Marshall was born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania in 1880. He graduated VMI in 1901, was commissioned in the U.S. Army, served in the U.S., fought in the Philippine-American War and WWI in France. During WWII he coordinated the large-scale expansion and modernization of the U.S. Army and was instrumental in preparing the U.S. Army and Army Air Forces for the invasion of Europe. Marshall wrote the document that would become the central strategy for all Allied operations in Europe.

In early 1947, President Truman appointed Marshall as Secretary of State and he became the spokesman for the plan to rebuild Europe which became known as the Marshall Plan.

He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1953. Marshall died in 1959 and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

The George C. Marshall Foundation, which opened in 1964 in his honor, is located in Lexington, Virginia and houses a library, archive, a museum and administrative offices on the post of VMI.