The New River Historical Society was incorporated in October of 1966. The goals then and now are as follows:

• to bring together persons and organizations interested in history as it relates to the New River Valley region of Virginia;
• to discover and collect material relating to the history of the New River Valley;
  to provide for the housing, storage, preservation, display and accessibility of materials of historical importance to students and the general public; and
• to disseminate historical information by publication or other means, including the marking of historical objects, buildings, sites and trails.
  The NRHS office is in the Wilderness Road Regional Museum, located at 5240 Wilderness Road in historic Newbern, Pulaski County, Virginia. The NRHS owns and operates the museum, along with the Old Jail building and the original Pulaski County Courthouse site across Wilderness Road from the museum, as well as the historic battery site overlooking the New River in Radford, Virginia.