Port Republic Road location. The Hotchkiss maps indicate that the main east west road through Staunton was the Parkersburg Pike, present Beverly Street, and that it seperated from the road to Harrisonbug just east of VSDB, crossed Lewis Creek and the railroad, then through Barren Ridge about present 254, then left along the ridge to New Hope , Mt. Meridian and on to Port Republic. this would have been a well travelled road becaseu the Clerk's office was at Port Republic when the county formed. Later it was moved to Staunton, the County seat. The Clerk's opffice would have then been easily accessable to both Staunton and Harrisonburg. Rockingham not yet formed. The first Clerk of Augusta County, John Madison, relative of the president, moved from Barterbrook Just south of Fishersville) to Port Republic and built Madison Hall. His son, James Madison, became the first Episcopal bishop in Virginia, President of Willima and Mary, and had a University named for him, James Madison University in Harrisonburg. The conventional wisdom is that the school is named for the president of the US, but the historical facts bely that claim. But it si understandable that a University would not want its name to be for that of the president of a college competing for the student's dollars, when it has the choice of its being named for a president of the United States. it is interestsing that folks those days thought very little of travelling a long way.