This one-room building is on the campus of Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Hancock County. It resembles many of the pre-Rosenwald schoolhouses that are extant in Georgia. It may not be a school, but it is my best guess.
Sistie Hudson, former mayor of Sparta, confirmed it was once a school, but it also served as the voting precinct for the Zion Community.
The Birdie Community was established in 1894 in northwest Spalding County. The Red Oak United Methodist Church was founded in 1871. There isn’t much published history on the church.
Behind the more modern church building is this turn of the century wooden building. I am not certain of it is a church or school, I am leaning more to it being a school based on the doors and windows.
The church seems to still be active. There were some fairly recent burials in the cemetery.
This building sits next to what was once Scott’s Chapel CME Church. It’s now the Mercy Ministries. The building is a classic school building from the 1920s. While I don’t think it is a Rosenwald, the design was influenced by the Rosenwald design. Research isn’t shedding much light except tax records indicate it as the Sunday School building.
Researching this school has proven to be a bit difficult. There are several Oak Grove schools in South Carolina, and, at least, two are in the Upstate.
The first Oak Grove School in Oconee County caught fire on February 10, 1908, and was destroyed (Keowee Courier, p. 5). Later that July, it was announced that J. L. Hamby and others would help rebuild it into a three-room schoolhouse.
There was an announcement a few years ago that the school would be restored. It doesn’t appear any work has been done on it.
The signs says,
Oak Grove School
Reunion
Every 2nd Sat. in June 5 PM
Pleasant Hill
Baptist Church
Info 636-0047
The Dean Street School was built in the 1890s in the heart of the middle-class Black neighborhood that developed around Dean Street. Originally a white wooden school, the brick was added to the facade in the 1930s.
The school was named the Alexander School after the long-serving principal, R. M. Alexander, who was in that role from 1895 to 1929. It served as the school for Black schoolchildren until the 1960s when Spartanburg schools finally began integrating.
In 1990, the Epsilon Nu chapter of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity purchased the building. They restored the school, and it is now their local fraternity headquarters.
Dr. Benjamin Hubert founded the Camilla-Zach Country Life Center in 1933. Hubert was the son of Camilla and Zacharias Hubert, the first Black landowners in Hancock County, Georgia. Dr. Hubert was president of the Georgia State College for Colored Youth, now known as Savannah State University.
Before he became president, Hubert became involved in the Country Life Movement, which was focused on making rural life attractive as more families relocated to urban areas. After he became president, he established the Association for the Advancement of Negro Country Life. With the backing of Northern donors, he worked to transform Springfield into an exemplary Black community.
Hubert purchased several hundred acres of farmland in the Springfield Community. He opened the Camilla-Zach Country Life Center to host educational seminars on farming practices. It became a hub for community activities.
It is a contributing property to the Camilla-Zach Community Center District.
*Zacharias Hubert’s name is often shortened to Zack or Zach. There seems to be no consistent spelling of his nickname.
