All boys. All boarding. Grades 9-12.

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School Founder Remembered

Robert Stringfellow Walker, who founded Woodberry Forest School in 1889, was remembered in a special service in St. Andrew's Chapel on October 28, 2013. The Rev. Dr. David Smith, Woodberry's chaplain, recounted how the Walker family translated into reality its vision of establishing a school rooted in Christian values and dedicated to educating boys for futures of service to others.

"It's difficult to know where we are," Dr. Smith began, "if we don't know where we came from." Robert S. Walker was born at Rosni, a farm near Woodberry's campus, on October 19, 1840. Known as "Captain Bob," he served in the Civil War, riding with Mosby's Rangers in spite of his night blindness. Though he started the school as an effort to educate his six sons, Mr. Walker's vision grew: he sold property and borrowed money to build the school's first major building. At the time, the structure now known as the Walker Building was the largest between Charlottesville and Washington, DC.

"You are the heirs of an incredible legacy," Dr. Smith told the boys seated in the pews. "You are the beneficiaries of Robert Stringfellow Walker's energy, vision, hope, and promise."
Woodberry Forest admits students of any race, color, sexual orientation, disability, religious belief, and national or ethnic origin to all of the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sexual orientation, disability, religious belief, or national or ethnic origin in the administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic or other school-administered programs. The school is authorized under federal law to enroll nonimmigrant students.