Organizations
Appalfolks of America Association (AAA) was founded by M. Ray Allen in 1985 to promote the literary and performing arts via programs that promote drug-free creativity. “Encyclopedia of Appalachia,” a 2006 publication by the University of Tennessee Press, cites Allen and AAA for its good work with youth in Appalachia in general and at the Historic Stonewall Theatre in Clifton Forge, renamed the Historic Masonic Theatre following AAA’s donation of the theatre to the Town of Clifton Forge in 2003.
The Historic Masonic Theatre serves as the home for AAA where its office is located on the ground floor level. For more than two decades, AAA has served as both producer and presenter of programs at the Historic Masonic Theatre. In 1992, AAA founded The Virginia Opry, a country music troupe patterned after the Grand Ole Opry. In 1993, AAA founded STARS (Special Theatrical Artists Revue & Showcase) serves to provide an opportunity for all special needs performers who wish to perform, and no audition is required for a mentally or physically challenged individual to join the troupe that currently consists of 20 members. Both The Virginia Opry and STARS have performances scheduled at the Historic Masonic Theatre in 2016 and 2017 (see schedule).
P.O. Box 613
Clifton Forge, VA 24422
The Chesapeake and Ohio Historical Society is proud to offer The C&O Railway Heritage Center | Clifton Forge. This Center is a railway heritage museum, interpretive, educational, and visitor’s center that tells the story of the C&O Railway: the people, the places, and the technology. The story is the essential American tale of how our nation grew, how we lived and worked, and how we were all connected together by twin rails of steel. The purpose of this center is also to honor the memory and contribution of all the railroaders who built the railroads that allowed our nation to prosper, and all those railroaders who continue to keep America moving by rail.
Preserving the history of the C&O Railway:
The Chesapeake & Ohio Historical Society is a non-profit corporation dedicated to interpreting the American Railway experience using C&O Railway’s history through drawings, documents, and artifacts which the Society collects, preserves, and makes available to as broad an audience as possible.
Clifton Forge Main Street, Inc. is a non-profit organization working to improve the historic downtown of Clifton Forge for economic and cultural reasons. It is affiliated with the Virginia Main Street Program, a division of the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development. In 1992 a group of local volunteers came together to create an entity that, with the support of the town, could obtain the technical assistance of Virginia Main Street toward preservation and enhancement of the downtown area.
The mission of the Clifton Forge Public Library is to inform, educate, and entertain the public through a variety of programs, print and non-print sources and community activities. The library will conduct its mission by providing: pre-school developmental programs and a wide variety of stimulating picture books for pre-schoolers and beginning readers; programs for students and a wide array of fiction and non-fiction books which support the curricula and needs of the student, primary grades through college, as well as their recreational interests; and, programs for s and young s, with a balanced and current collection of fiction, non-fiction and reference materials for the and young reader. These areas are supported by audio and videocassettes, and compact discs. Reference services are enhanced with on-line and other electronic services. And, all library services will strive for a philosophical balance, impartiality and confidentiality.
The objective of this Organization shall be to render emergency aid to the Citizens of the Town of Clifton Forge and surrounding areas. The Clifton Forge Rescue Squad was founded in 1945 by 12 members of the Clifton Forge Fire Department.
Our Mission: Offering opportunities for learning and training in the fine and applied arts to adults and to children. Located in the heart of historic downtown Clifton Forge, Virginia, the School provides a two-fold program that is recreational and vocational; promotes economic development; and encourages cultural enrichment and creativity.
The Clifton Forge Shrine Club will sponsor the Clifton Forge Fall Foliage Festival. Each year October heralds the magnificent beauty and abundance of the Alleghany Highlands’ forest and mountains. We welcome you to scenic, busy and friendly Clifton Forge, Virginia to view the splendor of Autumn foliage and browse through the many exhibits and shows in downtown Clifton Forge.