Harrisonburg

Harrisonburg is a workaday market town surrounded by rich farmlands. Settled in 1739, it's a stronghold of Mennonites, who wear plain clothes and drive horse-drawn buggies. The city is also a center of higher education, with James Madison University and Eastern Mennonite College in town and Bridgewater College nearby.

The Hardesty-Higgins House, an 1848 Georgian Greek revival, is now the center of the district and home to the visitor center. Harrisonburg is also the home of James Madison University, where you can stroll through a world of natural beauty at the Edith J. Carrier Arboretum and Botanical Gardens (www.jmu.edu/arboretum).