Virgina Frontier Chapter
Organized January 31, 1953
Lexington, Virginia
The words "Virginia Frontier" echo much 18th century history. Westward expansion had been rather slow for a century after Jamestown. Not until 1737 did the first settlers come to what is now Rockbridge County. Forty years later the War for Independence was on. The Virginia Assembly authorized a new county cut from Augusta with a slice of Botetourt. The assembly named the future county seat for the Battle of Lexington, 1775, -- truly a "Child of the Revolution."
During those forty fateful years, this frontier had undergone hardships and dangers. In the French and Indian War it was an exacting training ground for a Virginia colonel in British uniform, commanding the chain of forts and fortified homesteads that extended through the mountainous region, from the Potomac to the border of North Carolina. his name was George Washington.
Here every ablebodied man was in the militia. He must come when called, over crag and valley, carrying his own weapons, often afoot. When the Revolution came Washington, the Commander-in-Chief, placed great reliance on these mountian men. Rockbridge men fought on nearly every front.
May their rugged pioneer virtues never be lost in our era of ultrasonic speed nor their blood be replaced by the redtape of robot citizens! May the heritage of the Virginia Frontier continue a mainstay of individual freedom.