Harrisonburg's downtown historic district covers about 100 acres of the original commercial centre, with 161 contributing buildings dating from the late 18th century through the mid-20th. The Rockingham County Courthouse (1896–97), a Romanesque Revival red-brick pile, anchors the Court Square at the centre. The surrounding streets have a typical small-city commercial character — two and three-storey brick buildings from the late 19th and early 20th centuries — that has been better preserved than most comparable Virginia towns.
The district was designated Virginia's first culinary district in 2014. The restaurant concentration along Main Street and the surrounding blocks is genuinely impressive for a city of 50,000: independent restaurants outnumber chains, and the quality is higher than it has any right to be. The Joshua Wilton House, a large Victorian home converted into a restaurant and inn, is the most celebrated dining destination.