Description: Brocks Gap is tucked away in the mountains of northwest Rockingham County. It had been a “Gateway to the West” and has been the home of families living there for generations. Also: From Native American trails to today’s interstate highways: Valley transportation history.

• The Interview: Rockingham County historian Pat Turner Ritchie’s Brocks Gap family roots go back several generations. She’s spent a lifetime researching and archiving local history and is the driving force behind the annual Brocks Gap Heritage Day, an event that regularly draws visitors from over a dozen U.S. states.
• The Narrative: The Shenandoah Valley has always been a major transportation route, running along Native American paths that early immigrant settlers, American pioneers and 19th century commerce would later follow. Travelers still use it today. The story of Valley Transportation history. 
• The History Moment: A raging 1924 fire in the town of Boyce, Virginia, had taken out local businesses and was threatening several other buildings. Then the wind suddenly changed direction and gave firefighters the break they desperately needed.