How Harrisonburg Lost Its Founder

Where Is Thomas Harrison?

What happens when a community forgets the people who built it?

Thomas Harrison was an early pioneer of the Shenandoah Valley and the namesake of Harrisonburg, Virginia. Yet the places that could tell his story have nearly vanished.

The Old Church on the Hill, once the first place of worship in the young town, was neglected until it collapsed. Nearby, the Old Burying Ground—where Harrisonburg’s earliest citizens were laid to rest—was allowed to disappear. By 1946, historian John Wayland recorded that the remaining tombstones were gone.

Then the Morrison House, long associated with Thomas Harrison and his family, was destroyed.

So where is Thomas Harrison?

Was he buried with his family on the hill? Near the Chapel of Ease? In another cemetery? Or were his remains lost when the landscape changed?

Through surviving records and the work of local historians, this book searches for answers—and examines what Harrisonburg lost when progress erased its past.

Because when the landmarks disappear, who remembers the people?