Navelim's church was first built by the Jesuits in the 1590s; the present, Portuguese-style whitewashed structure was constructed later on when the older building became too small.

The reconstruction was apparently financed by a local merchant "Barreto" who was saved from bankruptcy through the intercession of Our Lady of the Rosary.

This merchant, according to legend, while passing through the main road running in front of the above church, received the message that he would lose a substantial amount of money in his business.

As soon as he received this message, he entered the church and started praying to Our Lady of Rosary, requesting her to relieve him from this catastrophe.

During this one day consecration of Our Lady, children from the school act out scenes from the Bible and the playground is filled with crowds of villagers.

Every November a candlelight procession carries a statue of Our Lady towards the church; the celebration of the feast continues for several days.

South Goa district's largest library, the District Library located at Navelim, is named after doctor Francisco Luis Gomes, who was a prominent Goan parliamentarian during Portuguese times, in the mid-nineteenth century, and an intellectual.

Some of the names of Navelim wards are: Aquem, Belem, Buticas, Coldem, Colmoroda, Danddo, Dialgona, Dongorim, Firgulem, Fradilem, Mandopa, Modi, Nagmodem, Ratvaddo, Rawanfond,Sinquetim, Sirvodem, Telaulim.

As of March 2022, its representative in the Goa Legislative Assembly is Ulhas Tuenkar of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

[6] In February 2018, the Government of India sanctioned a Rs 61.74 crore project (to be borne by the Centre and the State on a 60:40 basis) "to control pollution in [the] River Sal at Navelim town, Goa".

[7] It was approved by the Union Ministry of Environment, forest & Climate Change under the National River Conservation Plan or NRCP.

Under the project, about 32 kms of sewers were to be laid and a sewage treatment plant of three million litres per mday (MLD) to be constructed.

[7] It was also expected to "take care of [the] entire catchment area of the river through measures like rejuvenation of lakes and wetlands, construction of a small-check dam to ensure continuous water flow and afforestation".