How fitting that after a couple days in historic Washington, D.C., I'd end the week at a race sponsored by the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Historical Society in Dayton, Virginia. The 5K ran through historic buildings in Dayton, through a road with cornfields towering above my head, and then back at the historical society. I won a free one-year membership to the historical society, lunch for two at a restaurant in Bridgewater and a treasure -- the book "Where the River flows: Finding Faith in Rockingham County, Virginia 1726-1876" by Robert R. Hewitt, III.
These are "stories of remarkable courage, people who stood by the truths they held so closely. In a land of slavery, they chose to keep people free. In a land of war, they chose not to fight. In a land of devastation, they set their hands to rebuild what had been destroyed. More remarkable still are the lives that were changed --- people of every age and every station, all grasped by something beyond their natural lives. Here is the real, lasting story, a story of faith and commitment, of hope that does not disappoint. It is the story of those who live where the river flows" (quote from the jacket). It's also the story of Baptist, German Reformed, Lutheran, Mennonites, Dunkers, Presbyterians, Inspirationists, Quakers, Separatists, Moravians, people who, as far as the state was concerned, were dissenters, and at odds with the Anglican church.
I'm anxious to read this and to understand more clearly the culture of the Shenandoah Valley, a culture formed out of its history.
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