Staunton, Virginia, an independent city in the Shenandoah Valley, was founded in 1747 and named after Lady Rebecca Staunton Gooch, the wife of Virginia's Governor.  (Luckily, the city's founders used her maiden name.)  Like Rome, Staunton was built on seven hills.  In 1908, it became the first city in the world to adopt the City Manager form of government, in which a city council appoints a professional (and, in theory, apolitical) manager to administer day-to-day municipal operations.

Staunton is the birthplace of President Woodrow Wilson, the residence of the Statler Brothers, the hometown of former major league baseball players Larry Sheets and Dave Fultz, and the location of the Blackfriars Playhouse, a Shakespearian theater.  Staunton has its own local daily newspaper, The News Leader.  The city is also the meeting place for the now-infamous gatherings of the Woodside-McCabe clan.

Highland County is the next county to the west of Staunton.  The county is criss-crossed by the Appalachian Mountains and beautiful valleys, and is home to just one traffic light (a blinker).

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