Natural History Center is open for the season! Learn more about hours of operation.

Inspired by nature; devoted to the Rockfish Valley

We expand, amplify, and enrich connections with our community by offering visitors rich opportunities to explore the natural world and our shared cultural heritage.

 

Come VisitSupport Our Mission

Our Foundation works hard to preserve the natural, historical, ecological and agricultural resources of the Rockfish Valley. We accomplish this by enriching the lives of our community by supporting the Rockfish Valley Loop Trail system, Spruce Creek Park and the lands associated with them. The mission furthers supports conservation, recreation, preservation, and environmental education and promotes a rural tourism experience in the Rockfish Valley of Nelson County, Virginia.

Year Founded

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Donation & Grant Based

Miles of Public Trails

Founded in 2005, RVF has benefited mightily from the magnificent efforts and greathearted generosity of our volunteers. For the first decade of its existence, the Foundation didn’t have much of a paid staff, and its every accomplishment was the result of many hands. RVF has grown substantially since its founding in 2005, but our volunteers still serve as the backbone of our organization. We are buoyed every day by their optimism, their commitment to projects both small and complex, and their unflagging dedication to RVF’s mission. Come join us!

Bring the Whole Family

Enjoy a hike on the trails followed by a picnic in the park. This 0.7 mile section of the trail follows Route 627 and loops around an agricultural field back to the Spruce Creek Gallery. You can link to the Reids Creek section of the Trail next to the Elk Hill Baptist Church. A few Bluebird boxes are found along this trail. Look for Swallows, Sparrows, Vireos, Gnatcatchers, Waxwings, and Warblers.

Learn more about the park

Need Directions to RVF and Spruce Creek Park?

RVF on Google Maps

A Special Thanks to All of our Donors

Volunteer!

Do you love working outdoors with others? Come help us maintain this wonderful place and help develop it for future generations. Whether it is planting native wildflowers, restoring worn trails, cleaning up the park, or helping out during educational programming, we’d love to have you. All ages are welcome.

Support our Work

RVF is committed to providing the community with free access to richly curated, well maintained outdoor facilities and memorable environmental programming. By heightening community awareness of the varied wonders of the natural world, we hope to inspire the next generation to be engaged and faithful stewards of Nelson County’s astonishing natural resources.

Every donation helps us serve the public. No matter the size.

Volunteerism is the voice of the people put into action. These actions shape and mold the present into a future of which we can all be proud.

 

— Helen Dyer

Children, more than ever, need opportunities to be in their bodies in the world—jumping rope, bicycling, stream-hopping and fort-building. It’s this engagement between limbs of the body and bones of the earth where true balance and centeredness emerge.

 

David Sobel

Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity.

 

John Muir

Further information about the Rockfish Valley of Virginia:

Hurricane Camille

RVF has significant resources related to Hurricane Camille. They include the photo story of the impact on Beech Grove and the Rockfish Valley by the hurricane. Another resource is the insert from the August Daily Progress newspaper. It is a 24-page insert with stories and photos written and taken within the same week as the hurricane. You can access it at this link on this website.

 

If you have pictures or stories, please come share them with us or call the Rockfish Valley Foundation at 434-361-0271 and leave your name and number for us to call you back. We can copy your pictures on our cell phone and write up your story. After the exhibit, we will give what we have collected to the Nelson County Historical Society at the Oakland Museum to add to their records of what happened in the Beech Grove and Nellysford communities.

Fascinating Geology

If you are a geology buff you’ve come to the right place, literally. Learn about Nelson County’s own Nelsonite in the video below and also check out this Geology presentation with Chuck Bailey and Callan Bentley.