Big Island, VA

Big Island is a census-designated place in northern Bedford County, Virginia, United States. The 2020 census counted 2020 residents. The CDP is located along the James River and U.S. Route 501, between Glasgow and Coleman Falls. Big Island is part of the Lynchburg Metropolitan Statistical Area. The community is centered around a Georgia-Pacific paper mill that has been in operation for more than 125 years and is considered one of the longest continuously producing paper mills in the United States. The CDP is served by Bedford County Public Schools.

Public school students residing in Big Island are zoned to attend Big Island Elementary School, Liberty Middle School, and Liberty High School. The short version is that Big Island carries an earlier story into the places people know and use now. That is the local read on Big Island: its past remains attached to the places people use now. The area is named for a large, uninhabited island in the river upstream from the community.