When you think about the Roanoke River, what comes to your mind? Is it beautiful views or the chance to be outdoors? Is it memories of time spent close to nature or with family and friends? Maybe it’s hunting, fishing, birdwatching or just getting away to a quiet place to renew your spirit.

These are all reasons our visionary leaders imagined attracting more folks to our river – visitors, as well as locals – to enjoy spending time here.

To that end, for the past twenty years our partners have been engaged in building a regional brand which capitalizes on our waterways and the natural and cultural resources found throughout our region.

Through collective efforts we have built a brand which includes: fifteen member towns; the five counties in our service area; a host of businesses and organizations; and some very devoted individuals who believe in and support this collective vision.

Together we have cultivated partnerships – local, state and national partnerships – that are both an integral part of our brand and that promote and support our rural development initiative. Our list of partners is too long to share here but each of them plays an important role in making this development possible.

When you think about our region, I trust you realize what a special place it is and how lucky we all are to live here.

Our region is a place that has inspired writers and artists, and music and movies.

It is a place with great cultural diversity where history has been made. The people who live here are resourceful and resilient and hospitable.

It is a place where people from across the U.S. come to experience our hospitality, culture and the great natural places that we are surrounded by. It is a place where people who live in urban areas come to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life and to unwind for a little while.

One of the ways that Roanoke River Partners is working to help both locals and visitors connect to our cultural and natural assets is by preserving and re-purposing the Hamilton Rosenwald School.

Once completed, this renovated site will serve as a river/community center where people can access information about our regional waterways. It will also be an interpretive site for the famed Rosenwald Schools of our region and will showcase the Roanoke River’s role in the Underground Railroad.

Our river center project is one more way we are collaborating to develop our colorful, regional story. This project is expanding our brand in ways that will attract new visitors to our region and new partners to this work.

Our Rosenwald River Center project is posed to bring new opportunities to our river communities and we are currently identifying partners to support this initiative. If you, or your organization, are interested in being a part of this project, or in learning more about it, we’d like to hear from you. You can contact me through the info below.

Here’s to growing our Roanoke River brand to spur new enterprise, new partners and new opportunities for our region!

To learn more about our partners and our work, you can join our on-line audiences at https://www.facebook.com/RoanokeRiverPartners/; or https://www.instagram.com/roanokeriverpartners/; or https://twitter.com/RRiverPartners.

Carol Jones Shields is the Executive Director of Roanoke River Partners, Inc. You can contact her at (252) 798-3920 or director@roanokeriverpartners.org. You can learn more about Roanoke River Partners at www.roanokeriverpartners.org.