Located in southern Randolph County, North Carolina, Evergreen Academy is a one room school house built by the Quakers shortly after the Civil War. It remained in use until sometime around the 1920's. I say one room, although there is a folding door system that will convert the main area into two spaces. While all the desks and other artifacts have been removed (except for the lone chair above and a few boards and tools), the school building has been basically untouched since it was last used. As one with a background in archeology, stepping through the door is about as close to a King Tut moment as I will ever have. I walked in and immediately saw the chalk letters on the boards that are one hundred years old and remain unchanged since the moment they were written. It was like opening a time capsule. The writing is on blackboards. I use the plural, because there is no slate, but rather the wall boards are painted black. Standing in front of the boards, you can almost hear the children that once studied here.
What a find, Dan. Great pictures. I'd love to see it in person. How did you find it?
ReplyDeleteThanks Michael. Actually just found it in passing. Recognized what it was and did a little research with some local history friends to find out the owner for permission to see the inside. Contact me offline if you are interested and I will give you the contact info. The owner told me some of the local history societies tour it from time to time as well.
ReplyDeleteI've shot the outside of this place and the barn across the road as well, but thanks for making the extra effort for us to see the inside.
ReplyDeleteI love this building and the barn you wrote about earlier I drive past every time I go to Raleigh. I always dreamed of trying to move it to my property, the school house not the barn.
ReplyDeleteI think Hinsaw Town Rd/parks Church cross Rd is one of the most beautiful drives in the County you should check out the old mill on somethig... ford rd the rd is right before you cross the deep river down the rd from the Hinsaw barn. Haven't been past it in a while but it was a nice old mill but wasn't well kept up
I actually went by the old mill today and it became a surreal experience. It is indeed pretty neat and is in fact the last remaining water powered grist mill in Randolph County. It is also intact, which is pretty amazing. I talked with the lady who owns it and still lives there. She and her husband ran it for many years. As we talked, I told her who I was and she told me who her family was and I found out that her aunt was my great-aunt. She then asked me if I knew that John Routh owned and ran the mill before she and her husband bought it in 1938. John is my great-grandfather. I never knew. Floored me.
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