Keezletown is a small farming community near Harrisonburg
Only 5 miles from Harrisonburg, Keezletown is a small community where residents can experience quiet countryside living in the Shenandoah Valley while still being convenient to urban amenities. Keezletown is rife with local farms and backs up to Massanutten Mountain’s southern ridge, which is where Massanutten Resort, a popular skiing area, is located. The U.S. Census Bureau recognized Keezletown as a census-designated place for the first time in 2020. “Keezletown is a community with mostly just houses, there’s really no town center there,” says Greg Pfaff, a local Realtor with Kline May Realty and former owner of Brooklyn’s Delicatessen in Harrisonburg. “You’ve got some farms and fields out there, but other than that it’s mostly just homes and a little sign on the side of the road welcoming you to Keezletown.” Large shopping centers and access to Interstate 81 are less than 10 minutes away by car. Keezletown has an overall CAP Index Crime Score of 1 out of 10, the lowest score possible on the index and significantly lower than the national average score of 4.
Rural homes on multi-acre properties
Homes don’t often come on the market in Keezletown, but when houses are listed for sale they spend an average of 94 days on the market before being sold, almost double the national average amount of time. “A lot of homes in Keezletown were built around the end of the 19th century and during the 1960s and 70s. Homes are often rural-type properties like farmhouses and traditional brick ranch homes,” Pfaff says. Only a handful of homes in this community are from the 21st century. Keezletown’s median single-family home price is about $410,000 and most houses cost between $200,000 and $700,000. The median lot size in Keezletown is just over 22,200 square feet, or roughly 20 acres. Properties that sell for more than $750,000 often have lots that are double or even triple the median size.
Attending Rockingham County Public Schools
Keezletown is zoned for the district of Rockingham County Public Schools, which receives an overall B rating from Niche. Cub Run Elementary serves prekindergarten through fifth grade and is rated C-plus. Grades six through eight can attend the B-rated Montevideo Middle School, while Spotswood High School has an A-minus rating and offers dozens of competitive academic and athletic teams. Incoming 10th-grade students can to apply to Massanutten Regional Governor’s School for Environmental Science and Technology (MRGS), a specialty school for high school juniors and seniors. Reedemer Classical School is a private Christian school located in Keezletown that serves students from prekindergarten all the way through 12th grade. Nearby Harrisonburg is home to James Madison University, a massive public research university that reported an undergraduate enrollment of over 21,000 students in the Fall of 2023.
Year-round recreation at Massanutten Resort
On the mountain ridge, Massanutten Resort has premier outdoor recreation across all four seasons. Keezletown borders the resort at the base of Massanutten’s Western Slope, which offers a growing network of mountain biking trails that people flock to during the summer. The Western Slope’s trails combined stretch across more than 30 miles through hillside forests and also double as hiking trails. During the winter, the resort opens up its ski slopes and becomes a popular destination for snow sports. The Massanutten Ski Lodge on top of the mountain is a 12-mile drive from Keezletown. Other recreational amenities in and around Keezletown include Bowhunters of Rockingham, an outdoor archery club, and Rockingham Park at the Crossroads, a large county park with playgrounds, athletic facilities and an indoor recreation center.
Community farms in Keezletown and shopping malls in Harrisonburg
The only commercial establishments in Keezletown are a handful of community farms that grow and sell their fresh produce. Some farms, like Radical Roots, also sell herbs and plants in addition to organic food items. Pfaff says that White Oak Lavender Farm, located 4 miles from Keezletown, is a popular regional destination where people can take crafting classes, enjoy live music performances or grab a drink at The Purple WOLF Vineyard. Only a few miles away from Keezletown is Harrisonburg, a central Shenandoah Valley hub for shopping, dining, entertainment and business. Most of Harrisonburg’s commercial establishments are centered around James Madison University. Several large shopping centers including Valley Mall are clustered at the edge of campus near the Interstate 81 and Route 33 interchange. Between these shopping centers are dozens of supermarkets, big box stores, national retailers and chain eateries. Harrisonburg’s small downtown area has locally owned restaurants, boutique stores and establishments for community involvement like the Explore More Discovery Museum.
Getting around the Shenandoah Valley
Keezletown is a car-dependent community with low-traffic country roads and no major thoroughfares that run through the community itself. The main entrance to Keezletown is via Indian Trail Road, which branches off the busier U.S. Route 33. Commuters can take Route 33 east for a couple of miles to merge onto Interstate 81, a massive north-south thoroughfare that travels along the Appalachian Mountains up through Vermont. The closest airport, Shenandoah Valley Airport (SHD), is a 20-minute drive from Keezletown. SHD only offers direct flights daily to Charlotte Douglas International Airport, a hub for travel connections. Sentara RMH Medical Center has a 24-hour emergency department only 5 miles from Keezletown.
