Tag Archives: schoolhouse

-Georgia, Black History, Churches and Temples, National Register of Historic Places, Schools

Green Grove Missionary Baptist Church and School-Green Grove Community, Georgia

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Founded in 1886 in a bush arbor, the Green Grove Missionary Baptist Church was named because of the year-round green forest that surrounded the church. Perry Hudson, Louis Cherry, and Isaac Shorter founded the church. By 1898, the church began to host school in the church building. Unfortunately, the church was destroyed by a tornado in 1919.

By 1920, the church was rebuilt on land given by Heddy York. Unfortunately, it was destroyed by fire a mere four years later. Another church was built and opened by 1927. In 1937, a school built and used by white schoolchildren was no longer used. Known as the Wesley Chapel School, the building was moved and renamed the Green Grove School. It still stands today. The school was used until 1958, when schools were closed for consolidation.

The church is still active. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.

Source- Willie Marie Porter’s book A Grateful People: An Historical Account of the Founding of a Community

-Georgia, Abandoned, Churches and Temples, Schools

Unidentified Church, Georgia

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Jefferson County

This could also be a school.

-Georgia, Abandoned, Black History, Historic Photos, Schools

Rowland Grove School-Burke County, Georgia

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Founded in 1926 on the corner of Ivanhoe Plantation, this land was donated by Mrs. Clarissa Dye and her son Rowland Dye to start a one-room schoolhouse. They were the direct descendants of Charles Alden Rowland, the founder of Ivanhoe Plantation.

The school was started when Jim Hall, a sharecropper on Ivanhoe Plantation, asked the Dyes about the possibility of getting land to start the school. When it opened, there were no glass windows, just shutters. It had a white steeple roof. Savella Hall, Jim’s wife, was the first teacher at the school.

Like so many schools, the building had other uses. On the weekend, it served as the benevolent society.

Thank you to the Burke County Archives for confirming the identification of the building and sharing the older photo of the school. Information on the school was pulled from Eugenia Mills Fulcher’s 1999 dissertation, “Dreams do come true: How rural one- and two-room schools influenced the lives of African Americans in Burke County, Georgia, 1930-1955.”

Courtesy of the Burke County Archives and the Burke County Department of Education.
Notice the blue door trim. Many would say this is haint blue. If so, this is the first haint blue I’ve seen on a schoolhouse.
-Georgia, Black History, Schools

Trinity School-Sparta, Georgia

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Hancock County

Located next to the Trinity CME Church and south of Sparta is the Trinity School. It was used until 1959 to educate Black schoolchildren of the area. Based on the design, this one-room schoolhouse was built before Rosenwald schools were and, likely, before 1910.

-Georgia, Black History, Schools

Middle Hill School, Georgia

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Washington County

The Middle Hill School is located next to the Middle Hill Missionary Baptist Church. The school was started in 1879. Gussie Wright, Geneva Ford, and Rosa Williams were listed as teacher’s in the school. I believe this building would have been built in the 1920s.

Much appreciation to Katherine Helms Cumming for providing history.

-Georgia, Black History, Churches and Temples, Schools

Wallace Grove Baptist Church and School-Rutledge, Georgia

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Morgan County

Opened in 1902, the Wallace Grove Church and School were built after land was donated by W. P. Wallace in 1901. (My assumption is that this is William Pierce Wallace, who was a local banker and merchant in the area.) The one-room schoolhouse was used until the 1960s to educate Black schoolchildren.

The school fell into disrepair. In 2011, the congregation came together to restore the school. According to Tommy Chatman, he and his staff led the restoration process. The school was fully restored in under a year. It is the only extant turn-of-the-century schoolhouse still standing in its original location.

Source: Wallace Grove Board Info with Madison Morgan Conservancy
“Henry B” engraved onto an outside wall of the school