Hardesty-Higgins House Visitor Center

Although brick I-houses filled this small town in the nineteenth century, this is the only one surviving intact in the courthouse area. Built for Isaac Hardesty, Harrisonburg's first mayor, and his wife, Ann, the three-bay, two-story brick house with a two-story ell is a local interpretation of Greek Revival. The pediment over the entrance and the window sash are later. Hardesty, a Union sympathizer, housed Union general Nathaniel Banks and fed him, his staff, and his horses here for three days during the Civil War. The building now houses the city's visitors' center and a small museum. Opposite at 205 S. Main, the rugged Asbury United Methodist Church (1912, Charles M. Robinson) is clearly influenced by the work of H. H. Richardson in its cruciform plan, rusticated brownstone facing, square towers, and medieval aspect, although here the arches are Gothic, not Romanesque.