History Meets Fitness: Two Studios Have a Storied Past

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History Meets Fitness

Two Studios Have a Storied Past

There are a few ways to get out and stretch your legs in the Lancaster area – on a boat, during a hike, paddling a kayak, or even a little shopping. To help you move with purpose, Niche Pilates and BodyFit can help. Both of these fitness studios are relatively new to the area, but are set in buildings with storied pasts.

Niche Pilates soft-opened in January 2022 and officially in April. This is a second location for the Richmondbased business. Owner Jaclyn Forrester began visualizing expanding to Irvington during the first year of the pandemic when she and her husband Brian moved to the area.

“I love the sense of community here and I wanted to be a part of helping it grow,” she says. “We’re so excited about how the historic space has transformed and the people we’re starting to welcome into it.”

The space (235 Steamboat Road) was once the Irvington Town Hall. Before that, it was a public library.

“When we got in there you could see where the bookshelves once were,” she said.

Other signs of memories built into the building included old Irvington 4th of July Parade signs, original wood siding, remnants of an old tin roof, vinyl

The BodyFit home has transformed from a schoolhouse/ firehouse, to a 24/7 fitness studio and gym.

contractors to update the 8-foot ceiling to create an airy vaulted ceiling with beams.

“You can still see the character of the building, but we’ve made it ours,” she said. “We hope this space becomes something that could be used both for bringing the community together and showing them that this type of movement can be accessible for everybody.”

Before Niche opened in 2022, however, Jaclyn and her reformers had a temporary home at BodyFit, a 24/7 fitness studio and gym. Ramona Darden and her team of instructors offer exercise classes, personal training, and community events inside an old building that was once a firehouse, then a town hall, and then a school.

“My office was a fifth-grade classroom,” Darden says.

She walks through other areas that have been transformed since she renovated and opened the 2,700 squarefoot space in 2009—a school cafeteria, a home economics building with instructional pictures still on the walls, a trophy room, fire truck loading area. Like Forrester, Darden also opened up the ceilings to bring the gym space up to a breathable 15-foot height.

After working on renovations and growth for the past few years, Darden says she’s glad to have the space up and running the way she imagined it. The studio’s is will launching barre classes this year to round out its diverse group class offerings.

“I’ve been embraced by this little community and it feels great,” she says. “I want to keep showing everyone how much we care.”

Learn more about BodyFit at www.bodyfitva.com and Niche Pilates Studio at nichefitstudio.com.