ABOUT OUR MUSEUM

The Augusta Military Academy Museum dedicates itself to preserving the rich military and educational heritage of the Augusta Military Academy, which served young men from 1874 to 1983. Our mission is to educate the public about the academy’s impact on individual lives, military history, and the broader community.

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109 Years

12,000+ Cadets

6,000+ Artifacts

Hours & Information

The Museum is open to the public
10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Thursday - Sunday.
Office only is open Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Free Admission

Museum Admission is Free.
Group tours are available and encouraged for local and regional school groups

Get Directions

Our Museum is conveniently located between Harrisonburg and Staunton.

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Contact Us

 Contact us today, and let us help you plan your next visit to our museum.

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This month's featured exhibit

The Challenge Coin

Coins have been given as souvenirs and rewards since Roman times. Tradition suggests that the modern challenge coin concept dates to the First World War. According to a legend, an American lieutenant in the Army Air Corps printed medallions to encourage esprit de corps among his men. We have over 120 of these coins in our collection. 

Articles

Since 2020, AMA's museum staff have been asked to write articles for our monthly emailed newsletter.

Some articles reflect their experiences and responsibilities during their time at the museum.  Some articles are of a historical nature, as they uncover stories and details about Augusta Military Academy itself and more especially stories about individual cadets.

Some articles are brief, but most are very detailed as the authors dig DEEP to bring you their story.

If you are searching for a person or topic, use the search function in the top menu.  It will find any article that matches your search term.

Chris Correa, AMA Historian

Chris Correa,
AMA's Resident Historian

Chris Correa joined our team in 2019 as an administrative assistant and quickly grew into his current role as primary docent and more importantly AMA's historian.  With a degree in history, and an eidetic memory, and an extreme love for all things relating to AMA Chris is perfectly suited for his role as historian.  He knows more about AMA than any other living being.

Rich vanBreemen, museum curator

Rich serves in two roles at the museum:  administrator and collections curator.  Rich is an Air Force veteran who loves history, period. He also has working experience in database management, making him perfect for his curator duties in maintaining our database of people and artifacts.

Elizabeth Andrews, great-great granddaughter of AMA's founder, C.S. Roller.

Elizabeth discovered a trunk full of AMA treasures in her mother's attic.   Ever since then, Elizabeth has become one of our volunteer historians, especially when they relate to Colonel Tom Roller, son of founder C.S. Roller, and co-principal of AMA from 1907 through 1946.

Absolutely wonderful experience! Chris is the most enthusiastic guide that we have had at any museum. He obviously has a deep love for AMA and enjoys sharing this with his visitors. We came back for our second visit and heard even more fascinating stories about the facility and it's prior residents. He is able to communicate with children and adults equally well. Would highly recommend stopping by if you are in the area.
~ Seth,  May, 2026

An almost forgotten piece of history... So glad the current owners are allowing the museum to live on. We had to spend a couple days in the area & were looking for things to do. We love old buildings & love learning their histories, so when we saw this impressive structure & grounds off the road had a museum we took a couple hours to stop. The curator was wonder & gave us a personal history tour of the museum & allowed us to walk the grounds afterwards. I never really knew the ins & outside of how military schools for boys cane to be in the 1800s+, but tour enlightened me as to its rolling in shaping American history. I highly recommend visiting. Admission is free, so please be sure to leave a donation.
~ Renee, January, 2026
If you are at all interested in the history of this school and or military schools in the Shenandoah Valley, this is an excellent museum. The curator, a guy named Chris, is very knowledgeable and very helpful. In terms of answering questions. There is a lot of documented items and photos that tell the history very well.
— Don, November 2024
My dad and I really liked this museum. The main building is small, but there is a lot to see. I recommend doing the guided tour. The guide is very knowledgeable and happy to answer questions. He has had conversations with former students and a professor, so he has been able to hear some firsthand stories about the school.
— Kathleen, February 2024