| Forsyth County Historical Association Forsyth County, North Carolina |
| The FCHA would like to invite you to share any family Court Records, Deeds, Wills, etc that you may have. For more information on how you can donate your records, just send an email to FCHA . |
| SCHOOLS FOR FORSYTH COUNTY PAGE 2 |
| BLACKBURN SCHOOL OF CLEMMONS, NC ca 1920 |
| BETHANIA SCHOOL, FORSYTH COUNTY ca 1911 |
Twin City Sentinel July 30, 1965
Out of what is believed to be the first Sunday school in North Carolina came one of the first grade schools in Forsyth County.
This school called Hopewell, began in the early 1800’s and continued until the abandonment of one-room schoolhouses in North Carolina in 1926.
A reunion of those who attended the Hopewell School will be held at 5 p.m. Saturday at Hopewell Moravian Church, which is in Hopewell community at the intersection of Follansbee
and Hopewell Church roads, five miles south of Winston-Salem.
The reunion will feature alumni who attended the school 50 years or more ago.
The program will included a supper; the reading of a history of the school, which was prepared by Mrs. Harold F.
Guy, and an informal session presided over by the Rev. Howard G. Fultz, retired Moravian minister who formerly was connected with the school.
Mrs. Guy, daughter of one of the alumni, Mrs. R. A. Jones, traced the story of the school from the Zinzendorf estate at Berthelsdorf in Central Europe until its abandonment in favor of
a consolidated school system.
When the Moravians left Europe for America, they brought with them a desire for better education. Mrs. Guy said, Zinzendorf had started schools for the poor children of his estate
and later for the sons and daughters of nobleman, a beginning of public education, Mrs. Guy wrote.
When the Moravians first came to North Carolina they stopped at Bethabara in 1753, never intending it to be a permanent settlement, as the name Bethabara—house of passage—
implies, Mrs. Guy explained.
“Nevertheless a building was erected for school, worship and residence for the preacher-teacher and his family…Thus the first semblance of a school was started in this section and
for the next 100 years or more the church and schools were closely related; as also were the early Moravians and Lutherans,” Mrs. Guy reported.
From Bethabara the Moravians came to Salem to start their first permanent settlement.
Soon the Society of Friedburg was organized by Adam Spach, 14 miles south of Bethabara. This group started a church and school in 1769. The next year families from Broadbay,
New England, settled in the southeast part if Wachovia. They started a church and schoolhouse. The school was named Broadbay and the settlement Friedland, Mrs. Guy said.
Both Friedberg and Friedland were German Lutheran settlements
About 1772 several English families from Maryland began the Hope settlement in the western part of the Wachovia tract. They also built a church and schoolhouse.
All of these places, Mrs. Guy said had “minister-teacher from the Brethren of Salem”
Just before the turn of the 18th Century the land in the Hopewell Community began to be settled. Large plantations were bought from the original Wachovia tract mostly by German
families.
Records are incomplete, Mrs. Guy said, but it is believed that the school and church were started just after 1800 “in a log building on the hillside here.”
Most of the people were Lutherans, since they had no minister, Mrs. Guy explained, they petitioned the Brethren for a preacher-teacher from Salem. “A brilliant man named Gottlieb
Schober was sent,” Mrs. Guy said. He was a justice of the peace, organist, postmaster senator from Stokes County and attorney. All of his teaching was in German. However, after a
meeting in May 1803, the conference of Country Ministers of the Moravian Church suggested that once a month, after a German preaching, the children’s service should be held in
English.
Four years later the need was recognized for the German people to teach their children to read the Bible and the first attempt was made to organize a Sunday school.
The organization of the school, believed to be the first Sunday school in North Carolina,” Mrs. Guy said, took place under the leadership of Schober, who became an ordained
Lutheran minister in order to serve the Lutheran people, and Henry Ripple, a Lutheran with a Moravian wife.
“It was apparent that the neighbors and children liked the enterprise,” Mr. Guy said. A church building was built in 1810 and named Hopewell Evangelical Lutheran church.
At this time, Mrs. Guy said, the “state was sparsely settled and consequently was unable to undertake the education of the people. So they depended on the Moravians with their
church-schools and preacher-teachers for education. These in turn built up in the public mind such a desire for education that it would finally and logically be satisfied with nothing
less than some sort of general education program.”
The German ministers were the first teachers at Hopewell; carry on its work until 1835. The schoolhouse often referred to as the German School, then was a one room log building
with a large stone fireplace at one end for heating.
While the public schools of North Carolina were discontinued after the Civil War, Mrs. Guy reported, “interested citizens kept Hopewell open.”
The school continued to grow and a new and bigger one-room structure was completed about 1880. It was made of sawed and finished lumber and was heated by a stove.
The old log building was moved into the woods and became a dwelling for farm workers. In 1933 it was moved again and is still in use as a pack house by the Pope family.
In 1885 the public school system of Forsyth County was officially started again, but it made little difference to Hopewell, Mrs. Guy said. The Hopewell congregation built a new church,
and the two groups, side-by-side, struggled on and progress was made, Mrs. Guy said.
The school added a room and a well. There were two teachers with 60 pupils at the time the county school became a system in 1926. Then the pupils were transported to Griffith
School by bus and Hopewell School became “but a memory with very few records saved,” Mrs. Guy Said.
Typed by Reba Jones 2008
Out of what is believed to be the first Sunday school in North Carolina came one of the first grade schools in Forsyth County.
This school called Hopewell, began in the early 1800’s and continued until the abandonment of one-room schoolhouses in North Carolina in 1926.
A reunion of those who attended the Hopewell School will be held at 5 p.m. Saturday at Hopewell Moravian Church, which is in Hopewell community at the intersection of Follansbee
and Hopewell Church roads, five miles south of Winston-Salem.
The reunion will feature alumni who attended the school 50 years or more ago.
The program will included a supper; the reading of a history of the school, which was prepared by Mrs. Harold F.
Guy, and an informal session presided over by the Rev. Howard G. Fultz, retired Moravian minister who formerly was connected with the school.
Mrs. Guy, daughter of one of the alumni, Mrs. R. A. Jones, traced the story of the school from the Zinzendorf estate at Berthelsdorf in Central Europe until its abandonment in favor of
a consolidated school system.
When the Moravians left Europe for America, they brought with them a desire for better education. Mrs. Guy said, Zinzendorf had started schools for the poor children of his estate
and later for the sons and daughters of nobleman, a beginning of public education, Mrs. Guy wrote.
When the Moravians first came to North Carolina they stopped at Bethabara in 1753, never intending it to be a permanent settlement, as the name Bethabara—house of passage—
implies, Mrs. Guy explained.
“Nevertheless a building was erected for school, worship and residence for the preacher-teacher and his family…Thus the first semblance of a school was started in this section and
for the next 100 years or more the church and schools were closely related; as also were the early Moravians and Lutherans,” Mrs. Guy reported.
From Bethabara the Moravians came to Salem to start their first permanent settlement.
Soon the Society of Friedburg was organized by Adam Spach, 14 miles south of Bethabara. This group started a church and school in 1769. The next year families from Broadbay,
New England, settled in the southeast part if Wachovia. They started a church and schoolhouse. The school was named Broadbay and the settlement Friedland, Mrs. Guy said.
Both Friedberg and Friedland were German Lutheran settlements
About 1772 several English families from Maryland began the Hope settlement in the western part of the Wachovia tract. They also built a church and schoolhouse.
All of these places, Mrs. Guy said had “minister-teacher from the Brethren of Salem”
Just before the turn of the 18th Century the land in the Hopewell Community began to be settled. Large plantations were bought from the original Wachovia tract mostly by German
families.
Records are incomplete, Mrs. Guy said, but it is believed that the school and church were started just after 1800 “in a log building on the hillside here.”
Most of the people were Lutherans, since they had no minister, Mrs. Guy explained, they petitioned the Brethren for a preacher-teacher from Salem. “A brilliant man named Gottlieb
Schober was sent,” Mrs. Guy said. He was a justice of the peace, organist, postmaster senator from Stokes County and attorney. All of his teaching was in German. However, after a
meeting in May 1803, the conference of Country Ministers of the Moravian Church suggested that once a month, after a German preaching, the children’s service should be held in
English.
Four years later the need was recognized for the German people to teach their children to read the Bible and the first attempt was made to organize a Sunday school.
The organization of the school, believed to be the first Sunday school in North Carolina,” Mrs. Guy said, took place under the leadership of Schober, who became an ordained
Lutheran minister in order to serve the Lutheran people, and Henry Ripple, a Lutheran with a Moravian wife.
“It was apparent that the neighbors and children liked the enterprise,” Mr. Guy said. A church building was built in 1810 and named Hopewell Evangelical Lutheran church.
At this time, Mrs. Guy said, the “state was sparsely settled and consequently was unable to undertake the education of the people. So they depended on the Moravians with their
church-schools and preacher-teachers for education. These in turn built up in the public mind such a desire for education that it would finally and logically be satisfied with nothing
less than some sort of general education program.”
The German ministers were the first teachers at Hopewell; carry on its work until 1835. The schoolhouse often referred to as the German School, then was a one room log building
with a large stone fireplace at one end for heating.
While the public schools of North Carolina were discontinued after the Civil War, Mrs. Guy reported, “interested citizens kept Hopewell open.”
The school continued to grow and a new and bigger one-room structure was completed about 1880. It was made of sawed and finished lumber and was heated by a stove.
The old log building was moved into the woods and became a dwelling for farm workers. In 1933 it was moved again and is still in use as a pack house by the Pope family.
In 1885 the public school system of Forsyth County was officially started again, but it made little difference to Hopewell, Mrs. Guy said. The Hopewell congregation built a new church,
and the two groups, side-by-side, struggled on and progress was made, Mrs. Guy said.
The school added a room and a well. There were two teachers with 60 pupils at the time the county school became a system in 1926. Then the pupils were transported to Griffith
School by bus and Hopewell School became “but a memory with very few records saved,” Mrs. Guy Said.
Typed by Reba Jones 2008
| REUNION TO RECALL EARLY FORSYTH SCHOOL By Virtie Strupe |
| HOPEWELL SCHOOL FORSYTH CO., NC |
RED BANK SCHOOL
By Mary Giunca | Journal Reporter
Published: May 24, 2008
GERMANTON -- The ceiling is falling down and the floor slants to one side. But some local history buffs say that the Red Bank School still has some lessons to teach the community.
They would like to see the building restored and moved to Horizons Park.
Jerry Rutledge, a lawyer who lives in Walnut Cove, said that he has watched too many old schoolhouses in the area be torn down. "I think history is sort of one-dimensional for so many
people," he said. "Schools evolved from very crude log cabins. This was a modern school for its day. We think that it's so primitive, but for its time, it served its purpose and was the
cutting edge of schools."
The 19th-century schoolhouse has two rooms and a ghostly outline of what was once a stairway. It sits near the corner of Red Bank and Old School House roads. The walls and ceiling
are of beaded board. V.L. DeHart Jr. owns the building, which is on his family's land. He said he is willing to donate the building to any group that wants to move and restore it.
Since he cleared the woods around the school, the building sits open to view, and DeHart said he is worried that vandals will further hurt the building if a solution is not found soon.
Damon Sanders-Pratt, an assistant Forsyth County manager, said that he and Mark Surosky, the director of the Forsyth County Parks and Recreation Department, have toured the
school. Surosky said he thought that there might be room for the school at Horizons Park, which is nearby. The building is in rough shape, Sanders-Pratt said, and it needs a lot of work.
No one wants to move the building to the park and let it sit there in disrepair. "We had questions about who was going to fix it up," he said.
Angelo Franceschina, the president of the Rural Initiative Project Inc., a nonprofit group that works on community-development projects, said that grant money is available for such
projects as the school's restoration, but that he would like to see the community around the school band together to save it. Franceschina worked with a group of residents in 1998 to
restore Oak Grove School, which is thought to be the oldest school for blacks in Forsyth County.
Randall Crews, who lives nearby and is retired from working in the building and maintenance department for Forsyth County, said he has collected what information he can about the
building. He has an old photo in his family album that is labeled "Red Bank School," that shows about 40 students lined up in front of the school. His father lived in the schoolhouse for
six months in 1943, Crews said, while his family's home place was being repaired. Crews said that his family has lived in the area since the 1850s and he believes that the school might
have been built during Reconstruction. The Red Bank Church, which is within sight of the school, was established in 1860, Crews said.
The community was settled by a group of people from Halifax County, Va., Crews said. Crews said he thinks that there is hope to save the school.
"Once it's gone, it's gone. We have lost so much county history," he said. "What hasn't been torn down or burned up ... has been shipped to Raleigh."
Published: May 24, 2008
GERMANTON -- The ceiling is falling down and the floor slants to one side. But some local history buffs say that the Red Bank School still has some lessons to teach the community.
They would like to see the building restored and moved to Horizons Park.
Jerry Rutledge, a lawyer who lives in Walnut Cove, said that he has watched too many old schoolhouses in the area be torn down. "I think history is sort of one-dimensional for so many
people," he said. "Schools evolved from very crude log cabins. This was a modern school for its day. We think that it's so primitive, but for its time, it served its purpose and was the
cutting edge of schools."
The 19th-century schoolhouse has two rooms and a ghostly outline of what was once a stairway. It sits near the corner of Red Bank and Old School House roads. The walls and ceiling
are of beaded board. V.L. DeHart Jr. owns the building, which is on his family's land. He said he is willing to donate the building to any group that wants to move and restore it.
Since he cleared the woods around the school, the building sits open to view, and DeHart said he is worried that vandals will further hurt the building if a solution is not found soon.
Damon Sanders-Pratt, an assistant Forsyth County manager, said that he and Mark Surosky, the director of the Forsyth County Parks and Recreation Department, have toured the
school. Surosky said he thought that there might be room for the school at Horizons Park, which is nearby. The building is in rough shape, Sanders-Pratt said, and it needs a lot of work.
No one wants to move the building to the park and let it sit there in disrepair. "We had questions about who was going to fix it up," he said.
Angelo Franceschina, the president of the Rural Initiative Project Inc., a nonprofit group that works on community-development projects, said that grant money is available for such
projects as the school's restoration, but that he would like to see the community around the school band together to save it. Franceschina worked with a group of residents in 1998 to
restore Oak Grove School, which is thought to be the oldest school for blacks in Forsyth County.
Randall Crews, who lives nearby and is retired from working in the building and maintenance department for Forsyth County, said he has collected what information he can about the
building. He has an old photo in his family album that is labeled "Red Bank School," that shows about 40 students lined up in front of the school. His father lived in the schoolhouse for
six months in 1943, Crews said, while his family's home place was being repaired. Crews said that his family has lived in the area since the 1850s and he believes that the school might
have been built during Reconstruction. The Red Bank Church, which is within sight of the school, was established in 1860, Crews said.
The community was settled by a group of people from Halifax County, Va., Crews said. Crews said he thinks that there is hope to save the school.
"Once it's gone, it's gone. We have lost so much county history," he said. "What hasn't been torn down or burned up ... has been shipped to Raleigh."
| HORSE HEAD SCHOOL |
Another Mt. Tabor community school was Spanish Grove,
established around 1833. Owned by the Moravians, it was also
used as a place of worship for the Methodist. This school was
located just across Muddy Creek on what is now Robinhood Road
and behind where the present day Mock Tire store is located. The
Spanish Grove school eventually served as a private residence. It
was torn down in the 1970's. This photo was taken sometime
between 1910 and 1920. Many of these people are grandchildren
of Confederate soldiers from Forsyth County. If you can identify
anyone in this photo, please contact the FCHA. Your help would
be appreciated!
Source: The Yadkin Melting Pot,© 1967, by Larry Tise, published
by Clay Printing Co.
established around 1833. Owned by the Moravians, it was also
used as a place of worship for the Methodist. This school was
located just across Muddy Creek on what is now Robinhood Road
and behind where the present day Mock Tire store is located. The
Spanish Grove school eventually served as a private residence. It
was torn down in the 1970's. This photo was taken sometime
between 1910 and 1920. Many of these people are grandchildren
of Confederate soldiers from Forsyth County. If you can identify
anyone in this photo, please contact the FCHA. Your help would
be appreciated!
Source: The Yadkin Melting Pot,© 1967, by Larry Tise, published
by Clay Printing Co.
| SPANISH GROVE SCHOOL |
Suburbanite July 14, 1972: REMEMBER BACK WHEN- Members of
the old Horse Head School of more than 60 years ago. The school
was on highway 65, half way between Germanton and Rural Hall.
Nelson Grubbs bought it and theland. He renovated it and now it
is home. In the picture are Ralph Merritt, Lola White, Early Tuttle,
Lela McGee, Nelson Grubbs, Grady Tuttle, David Hill, Ray
Bolejack, Jesse Griffin Earnest Bowden, Alfred Smith, Florence
Merritt, Perry Griffin, Eva Grubbs, Alma Westmoreland, Perlie
Grubbs, Lena Griffin, Otis Grubbs, Dennis Hill, Irelen Stultz, Ealah
Shouse, Verlia Tuttle, Shirley Hill, Agnes Bolejack, Ida Smith,
Bessie Merritt, Dennis Kiger, Iral Stultz, Gurnie Grubbs, Shirley
Tuttle, Alvin Kiger, Curtis Tuttle, Wallac Smith, Robert Grubbs,
Ralph Sapp, Yareston Sapp, Clifton Griffin, Clinton Shouse, Mary
Beth Griffin, Doris Bolejack, Rosie Banner, Mary Ann Hill, Mattie
Grubbs, Gurnish Grubbs, Ethel Sapp, Louise Griffin, Paul Banner,
Mack Hill, Herman Bolejack, Joseph Westmoreland, Dink White,
Cammie Griffin, and Blanch Merritt, the teacher.
the old Horse Head School of more than 60 years ago. The school
was on highway 65, half way between Germanton and Rural Hall.
Nelson Grubbs bought it and theland. He renovated it and now it
is home. In the picture are Ralph Merritt, Lola White, Early Tuttle,
Lela McGee, Nelson Grubbs, Grady Tuttle, David Hill, Ray
Bolejack, Jesse Griffin Earnest Bowden, Alfred Smith, Florence
Merritt, Perry Griffin, Eva Grubbs, Alma Westmoreland, Perlie
Grubbs, Lena Griffin, Otis Grubbs, Dennis Hill, Irelen Stultz, Ealah
Shouse, Verlia Tuttle, Shirley Hill, Agnes Bolejack, Ida Smith,
Bessie Merritt, Dennis Kiger, Iral Stultz, Gurnie Grubbs, Shirley
Tuttle, Alvin Kiger, Curtis Tuttle, Wallac Smith, Robert Grubbs,
Ralph Sapp, Yareston Sapp, Clifton Griffin, Clinton Shouse, Mary
Beth Griffin, Doris Bolejack, Rosie Banner, Mary Ann Hill, Mattie
Grubbs, Gurnish Grubbs, Ethel Sapp, Louise Griffin, Paul Banner,
Mack Hill, Herman Bolejack, Joseph Westmoreland, Dink White,
Cammie Griffin, and Blanch Merritt, the teacher.
Pine Grove School 1912-1913
Suburbanite Nov. 26, 1975: This ancient picture shows the class of
1913-13 at Pine Grove School. It was made in front of the Pine Grove
Church on Jonestown by Dud Jarvis. The old church building, renovated
several times, is still in use as a Scout hut. In the picture are (front row)
Irene Bodsford (Cox), Miller Jones, Elvia Bowles (Barlow), Thomas
Woosley, Lora Jones (Cartner), John Wesley Kimel, Viola Griffith, Ada
Kimel (Sigman)
Second Row: Ted Woosley, Treva Jones (Blackburn), Samuel Woosley,
Curtis Jones, Stella Kimel (Lazenby), Thelma Bodenhamer (Yokley), conley
Jones, Cora Bodsford (Kimel), Flora Kimel (Poole)
Third Row: Fred Kimel, William Woosley, Albert Shutt, Ada Woosley
(Foster), Emma Bodenhamer (Reed), Flora Alspaugh (Lindley), Mattie
Nifong (Woosley);
Fourth Row: Lula Hampton (Phillips), Sarah Tomas, Ruth Jarvis (Hauser),
Willie Robertson, Teacher, Hattie Sheets (Conrad), Lelia Jones (Norman),
Grace Robertson (Smith) and Nettie Hampton.
1913-13 at Pine Grove School. It was made in front of the Pine Grove
Church on Jonestown by Dud Jarvis. The old church building, renovated
several times, is still in use as a Scout hut. In the picture are (front row)
Irene Bodsford (Cox), Miller Jones, Elvia Bowles (Barlow), Thomas
Woosley, Lora Jones (Cartner), John Wesley Kimel, Viola Griffith, Ada
Kimel (Sigman)
Second Row: Ted Woosley, Treva Jones (Blackburn), Samuel Woosley,
Curtis Jones, Stella Kimel (Lazenby), Thelma Bodenhamer (Yokley), conley
Jones, Cora Bodsford (Kimel), Flora Kimel (Poole)
Third Row: Fred Kimel, William Woosley, Albert Shutt, Ada Woosley
(Foster), Emma Bodenhamer (Reed), Flora Alspaugh (Lindley), Mattie
Nifong (Woosley);
Fourth Row: Lula Hampton (Phillips), Sarah Tomas, Ruth Jarvis (Hauser),
Willie Robertson, Teacher, Hattie Sheets (Conrad), Lelia Jones (Norman),
Grace Robertson (Smith) and Nettie Hampton.
| REYNOLDS EMPLOYEES HELP SWELL JOURNAL'S EMPTY STOCKING FUND Voluntarily Raised Money and Brought it to Journal Office to Help Great Work Red Bank School, in County, Gives Money to Help Unfortunate City Children Nearly $200 Raised Now Journal, Dec. 14, 1913 Winston-Salem, NC |
Contributed by Rebecca Gall, August 2008
Slowly but steadily the Empty Stocking Fund is increasing and soon it will have reached the $200 dollar mark. The interest continues to grow from day to day and contributions
come from all directions and from all classes in amounts both large and small. Already the number of persons aiding in the raising the fund has passed far beyond the one
hundred mark and before the close of the campaign on Christmas Eve, doubtless, this number will grow to be several hundred for the nearer the approach to Christmas, the
more readily the contributions will be sent in.
A notable contribution of $12.50 was received yesterday afternoon from the employees of the R.J. Reynolds Company Tobacco factories, twenty-three of whom voluntarily
contributed the amount and delegated one of their number to bring it to The Journal office. The hearts of those who live by their work is always open to the appeals of the needy
and the unfortunate and it is by these people that the little empty stockings throughout the city are being filled for the Christmastide.
Also there came in from The Red Bank School of which Miss Addie Lineback is teacher, a contribution of $1.58, made up by the little children of her school. This is a lesson to
the people of this city, that the children living out in the country should be touched by the letters of their little town friends and should send in a contribution to help them, while so
many of the people in the city turn a deaf ear to their cries arising out of the very shadows of their homes.....
Contributuions were received yesterday as follows:
W. A. Petree of King, Stokes County $1.00
Mrs. N. L. Cranford 1.00
Cash 1.00
Chas. E. Norfleet 1.00
W.H. Clark 1.00
Linville Powell 1.00
H.A. Gould 1.00
Miss Clennie Clark 1.00
Red Bank Public School 1.58
Cash 2.00
Reynolds Employees:
J.B. Smith 1.00 J.O. Anderson $ .50
E.D. Fultz 1.00 F. W. York .50
R.A. Poole .50 W.R. Kester .50
J.C. Reich .50 Robt. W. Ring .50
H.O. Butler .50 A.M. Clements .50
J.T. Parrish .50 G.L. Fletcher .50
J.M. Doub 1.00 Abraham Foster .25
F.W. Morris .50 G.M. Click .50
G.L. McCuiston .50 J.F. Henderson .50
J.N. Tucker .50 J.N. Tucker .50
J.F. Mendenhall .50 A.S. Dalton .50
Amos Hege .25 P.E. Griffith .50
Total Received Yesterday $ 24.08
Previously Reported $ 153.13
Total Amount Received $177.21