Building on a Legacy: Evolution from Mission School in the 1920s to Environmental and Cultural Center in the 2020s

This presentation traces the history of a 1920s mission school for girls in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia to its present incarnation as a nature/cultural center for everybody in the 21st century. Sponsored by Lutherans desiring to provide educational opportunities for girls in a remote area of Smyth County, Virginia, Konnarock Training School opened in 1924. Located at the foot of Whitetop Mountain, KTS drew boarding students from the immediate area and as far away as Boone, North Carolina. The girls ranged in age from five to eighteen. They were housed and schooled in a spacious three-story structure clad in chestnut bark siding. The Lutherans and local residents built a cottage on the grounds that served as a medical facility for the students as well as the whole community. With greater accessibility to public schools, KTS closed its doors in 1959, but the structure served several other functions over the years. In 2007 a group organized as the Konnarock Retreat House set out to preserve the building and to repurpose it as a cultural and community center. In 2017 the KRH Board gifted the buildings and five acres of mountain land to Blue Ridge Discovery Center, an educational environmental group in its 10th year of service to mountain communities and beyond. To date, BRDC has raised 1.8 million dollars to renovate and rejuvenate a legacy institution whose current and future plans promise rich benefits for our Appalachian Mountains