The tiny hamlet, Port Republic located just North of Grottoes and South East 
of Harrisonburg, is on the confluences of North and South River that flow 
from there to make up the South Fork of the Shenandoah; and, as I have been 
told, is so named because of its use as the starting point for the transport 
of timber and hides being forwarded to Washington, D. C. as late as the 
1880's.

Rafts were built and sold upon delivery of the goods and the boatmen walked 
back to Port Republic from their adventure.
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The above has not been researched and is from a story told to me by a "born 
there" resident whose birth would have been in the 1920's. These remarks are 
offered for interest only and are welcomed to critical scrutiny from 
authoriative sources should they need to be put right.

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