Browse Items (14 total)

Washington County is one of the first known localities in the United States to be named for George Washington. He had been commander in chief of the Continental army for little more than a year when the county was split from Fincastle in 1776. At the…

Trolleys, or electric railway streetcars, were a very popular way for people to travel across cities or towns in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Earlier versions of the trolley, or tram, were drawn by horses. By the late 1800s, however,…

After the Civil War and the enfranchisement of Black men, political contests in Virginia were often heated. In 1879, a biracial coalition known as the Readjuster Party won control of the General Assembly and two years later won the governor’s race,…

In earlier eras, books were expensive luxury items only owned by those who could afford to purchase them. The advent of the printing press made it easier to produce books; however, it was far easier to mass produce newspapers, pamphlets, and other…