Augusta County ... long a center of education

With the recent budget issues in Augusta County and surrounding areas as localities struggle to fund education, I found this interesting paragraph from the Augusta County Historical Society's website:

Augusta County has long been a center of education. Among schools that have flourished here for more than a century have been the Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind, Augusta Female Seminary (now Mary Baldwin College), Virginia Female Institute (now Stuart Hall School) in Staunton and Fishburne Military School in Waynesboro. Earlier schools included Mossy Creek Academy run by Jed Hotchkiss, who became General T.J. “Stonewall” Jackson’s mapmaker, Augusta Military Academy in Ft. Defiance, Staunton Military Academy in Staunton, and Fairfax Hall in Waynesboro. Roanoke College and Washington and Lee University had their starts in Augusta County.

Let's hope that interest in education never disappears.