Rockfish Valley Community Center

History and Mission

Founded in 2000, Rockfish Valley Community Center (RVCC) is a membership-based 501(c)(3) charitable organization serving residents of the Rockfish Valley and all of Nelson County, Virginia.  We are the Center of our community, by our community, and for our community – we’re where “community” happens.

Our Mission Statement reads: “The purpose of the Center is to provide, on a non-profit basis, a facility for cultural, recreational, social and educational activities for the residents of the Rockfish Valley, the residents of Nelson County, Virginia and the surrounding area. The Center will encourage activities promoting and providing opportunities for these residents of all ages to experience physical, social, intellectual and cultural growth and development. To that end, a broad spectrum of activities may be available, responsive to demand evidenced through member and other resident requests and evidenced by support through participation and volunteer commitment.”

We are housed in the historic former Rockfish Valley Elementary School, opened originally in 1939 as Rockfish Valley High School.  Our space is devoted to large and small meeting spaces, and former classrooms are occupied and rented by a variety of artisans, movement and yoga instructors, healing arts practitioners, a thrift store, art gallery, coffee shop, take-out caterer, seminar and other public spaces and other small businesses and non-profits.  Our 10 acres of grounds are devoted to outdoor events and recreation, with baseball and soccer fields, a playground, basketball court, walking trail, wildflower garden and a double half-pipe for skateboarders and in-line skaters.  We have approximately 600 members.

The Rockfish Valley Community Center had its beginnings like all community endeavors – with a group of involved citizens who rallied around a cause, a possibility, a dream.  The vacant old school building stood awaiting its next incarnation, the children having left it for a modern new building up the road.  In November 1999, a group of local citizens and Ruritans met in the new school to discuss the possibility of using the old building as a community center.  The precedent had been set by other Nelson County schools in Schuyler, Massies Mill and Fleetwood, all of which had been vacated during the county’s consolidation into two elementary schools. 

Annual Fund revenues, the Treasure Chest thrift store, short-term room rentals and long-term space leasing, community breakfasts, indoor markets, fundraising campaigns and events and grant-seeking began as a means of supporting the Center, and continue to this day. 

So what do we learn from the early history of RVCC?  We see that community energy evolves with different individuals emerging and engaging at certain times to lead an effort, inspire a project, energize a work day, instruct a class, or organize a fundraiser.  The building stands with its doors open to the creative idea, the artist and the crafter who needs a studio, the individual who needs an office, the dancer, yoga instructor or teacher who needs a classroom.  The community space evolves.  It is here for individuals from all walks of life and for the diverse groups that comprise the Rockfish Valley and all of Nelson County. 

The structure and sustainability of RVCC isn’t just found in its bricks and mortar – it is in the hands, hearts, energy - and the pocketbooks - of the community it serves.

We are the Center of our community, by our community and for our community.

We are where Community happens in the Rockfish Valley of Nelson County, VA!