Southwest Virginia’s long-established Lutheran community began to expand its missionary activity in the region in the 1920s. A principal accomplishment was the Konnarock Training School, begun in 1924 by the Woman’s Missionary Society of the United Lutheran Church in America. The school served simultaneously as a private boarding school and a public day school with a special focus on the cultural, spiritual, and social development of girls from underprivileged mountain families.

The old route of the Appalachian Trail passed just north of the school complex. Hikers on the trail who wished to divert south to Mt. Rogers and Whitetop Mountain took a side trail that joined the road through Konnarock, passing directly by the school.

The Lutherans’ Board of American Missions considered its work done in 1958 and closed the school. The complex is now owned by the U. S. D. A. Forest Service.