Rockingham County lies in the northern Piedmont, along the Virginia-North Carolina border. The land that became Rockingham County was broken off from Guilford County in 1785 and named for Charles Watson-Wentworth, the second Marquesse of Rockingham, a two-term prime minister of Great Britain in the mid-1700s.
Rockingham County covers 572 square miles, with a population of 93,643. The county seat is Wentworth, and other “major” towns and cities in the county include Reidsville, Eden, Madison and Mayodan.
Interestingly enough, the towns of Madison and Mayodan between them are home to less than 5,000 citizens, but they are home to two of the nation’s major firearms manufacturers.
Madison is the national headquarters of Remington Arms, which moved to North Carolina in 1996. In 2013, Sturm, Ruger & Co. completed the purchase of a former textile plant on the outskirts of Mayodan and hired close to 500 workers to produce two product lines, including the new Ruger American Rimfire rifle.
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