About Us

The local Rotary Club has served West Jefferson, the communities of Ashe County, and the regions around the world for over 75 years. While many worthwhile service efforts have materialized form this local organization of business and civic leaders, the local Rotary Club was chartered in April of 1938 to jumpstart an effort by several prominent local citizens to build a hospital for Ashe County.

Meeting weekly at the West Jefferson Hotel, the young Rotarians worked diligently between 1937 and 1941, the year of the hospital’s opening, contributing countless hours of planning as well as undertaking financial responsibilities that included each Rotarian’s purchase of 5 shares of $20 stock in the nonprofit hospital corporation. The birth of Rotary from such an essential component of the community living would foreshadow the club’s heavy emphasis on bettering Ashe County through a myriad of service projects.

It is the Rotary Club; forty-three sponsoring of the annual Ashe County Bluegrass and Old Time Fiddlers Convection, providing local high school graduates with college scholarships that undoubtedly marks the legacy of Rotary service in Ashe County. 

The story of the Fiddler’s Convention, and its impact on the higher education of over 6,000 first year college students, begins much like the story of Rotary itself. Several local Rotarians came together in the late 1960’s with the notion that a county park would serve as a center of recreation and gathering place for the people of Ashe. Eleven Rotarians and another local businessman purchased the 68-acre tract of land on which Ashe County Park now sits outside of Jefferson, and eventually donated the land to the county once funding was acquired. Not stopping there, Rotarians also raised nearly $70,000 to develop and open the park.

It isn’t any wonder that such significant projects as the construction of the Ashe Memorial Hospital, the West Jefferson Bean Market, the Ashe County Park, and the Ashe County Airport are all direct results of the effort of local Rotarians. The local Rotary Club maintains a unique tradition of service and fellowship that continues to seek out new projects and members. 

Where there is a need in Ashe County and beyond, local Rotarians will continue to serve and lead for years to come.

The Rotary Club of the Jeffersons officially changed its name to the Rotary Club of Ashe County on April 3, 2015 to reflect the inclusion of the entire County and not just the Jeffersons.