Stonewall District Ruritan Club

The Stonewall District Ruritan's motto is Fellowship, Goodwill and Community Service. We strive to make a difference in our community.

Founded in 1952, Stonewall District Ruritan Club began. We have been serving the community for over 70 years. In 1971, the club purchased the current 19 acre site. The ground and facilities are available to support a wide range of community activities including weddings, receptions, community meetings, outdoor events, coin shows and much more. 

Ruritan National has nearly 30,000 members throughout the United States that work to improve more than 1,100 local communities. Since the organization’s beginning in 1928, Ruritan Clubs have served America with Fellowship, Goodwill, and Community Service. Ruritan is a civic organization made up of local clubs in urban areas, small towns and rural communities. Ruritan’s purpose is to make America’s communities better places in which to live and work through community service. The slogan of Ruritan is “Fellowship, Goodwill and Community Service.” Club membership represents a cross-section of the community in which the club serves, and is not restrictive with regard to occupation, social position, or any other specific criteria. Unlike most civic service organizations, Ruritan rarely has national programs. Rather, each club surveys its own community as to the needs of that community and then works to meet some of those needs. Nearly all clubs work locally with Boys and Girls clubs, Little Leagues, 4-H and other organizations serving youth

The first Ruritan Club was chartered May 21, 1928, in Holland, Virginia. Since that first club, Ruritan has grown throughout the United States of America, and in doing so, has become "America’s Leading Community Service Organization."Tom Downing of Suffolk, Virginia, and Jack Gwaltney of Holland, Virginia, are known as the co-founders of Ruritan. Gwaltney and Downing recognized the need for an organization where community leaders could meet and discuss ways to make their community a better place in which to live.

The name "Ruritan" was suggested by Daisy Nurney, a reporter for the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot newspaper, and the club’s charter members unanimously adopted "Ruritan" as the organization’s name. The word is a combination of the Latin words for open country "ruri" and small town "tan," interpreted as pertaining to rural and small town life.

Activities include: BBQ chicken sales, concessions during the Frederick County Fair, Tuck & Tractor Pulls, Antique Truck shows, Monster Truck shows, and much more. Fundraising activities are used to support needs in our community and maintain the facilities.