Rockingham County Fair 2026
Harrisonburg, Virginia
August 2026

Farm Communications
"Rural Long Lines to Rural Short Waves"

The Virginia Telephone Museum located in Richmond, Virginia will be on tour again this summer at the Rockingham County Fair.  The New Vision Pioneers supports the museum using retired volunteers of the former Bell System.

The Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company was founded in 1879 as a major subsidiary operating in Richmond Virginia.

 The Virginia Telephone Museum includes a historical research library and educational training facility while providing educational tours on site and around the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone in 1876 also sent over a beam of light the first wireless telephone message in the history of the world just four years later called the photophone near Richmond but was never recognized until many years later what he had done.   This was before the invention of the vacuum tube, magnetic waves, or the invention of radio.

Early telephone and wireless technology items  will be on display at the Rockingham Fairgrounds again this year.

We thank the support of volunteers from the museum and local radio clubs allowing this to happen.

Antique Equipment and Displays with Demos
The Historical Role of Rural America
From Western Union to Western Electric

"Rural Long Lines to Rural Short Waves"

From Previous Years
Rockingham Fair   2023 - 2025
History of Technology to Present Day
Exhibits & Displays

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