Port Republic Historic District

Port Republic is a small village where the North and South Rivers meet to form the Shenandoah River in eastern Rockingham County. Laid out in 1802 along two parallel streets, Main and Water, it grew into an industrial and commercial center with mills, a tannery, a foundry and a flatboat-building point. As the highest navigable point on the Shenandoah, it shipped flour, iron and other upper Valley products downriver. The railroad arrived in the 1870s and reduced the town's importance, though local industry and a prosperous residential community continued. Most surviving buildings date from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many replacing structures lost in floods of the 1870s and 1880s; a few log and brick houses are earlier. The district also includes sixty-two archaeological sites and was the scene of the Battle of Port Republic in June 1862, the last battle of Stonewall Jackson's Valley Campaign. The town retains much of its original plan and a consistent scale.