Mount Rogers Combined School — Grayson County, Virginia

Mount Rogers combined school was located along US 58 near Whitetop, Virginia in Western Grayson County. The original part of the building was constructed in the 1930s.
ight=”3456″ alt=”Former Mount Rogers School — Grayson County, Virginia”>
The building served grades K-12 and at the time of its closing was one of only 2 k-12 facilities left in the state.
In the early 1950s the school recieved a major addition including a gymnasium and lunchroom.

The playground equipment remains on site and appears to be regularly used, probably by neighborhood children.


The schools closing and consolidation was met with resistance of locals in the area worried about longer bus rides for children across curvy winding mountain roads.   Finally on August 10, 2010, Grayson Highlands School opened, leaving Mt Rogers Combined School closed and a part of Grayson County’s past.

Shady Valley Elementary — Johnson County, Tennessee

Shady Valley School is one of the few WPA school buildings still being utilized that I have came across in my travels.
The building was built in 1936.  
Today the school still serves around 50 students.

Cumberland Mountain General Store — Fentress County, Tennessee

The Cumberland Mountain General Store in Clarkrange, Tennessee has became one of my favorite oddities that I have ran upon in recent years out on the road.

The store is located about 19 miles north of Crossville on US 127.

Inside you will find everything from vintage license plates to classiv vinyl records to tacky bumper stickers.  (FYI this place loves rebel flags and duck dynastyesque merchandise)  In the back of the store you will find a true vintage 1950s soda fountain and believe me, this place was packed out.  customers ranging from what appeared to be local farmers, to men in suits to people like me who appeared to have been in the car all day.

When researching this place and scoping it out to visit on my trip, I kept reading about their famous peanut butter fudge and other home made candies.  I had to try them.  They are definitely in the upper echelon  of candies that I have tried.  I highly recommend a stop inside the Cumberland Mountain store if you ever find yourself traveling through Clarkrange and Fentress County.

Allardt First Presbyterian Church

 

The Allardt First Presbyterian Church is a Gothic Revival style building located on Pennsylvania Avenue in Allardt, (Fentress County) Tennessee.

The church was constructed in 1903 and added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 3, 1991.

Sandy Ridge 27406 — Stokes County, North Carolina

Sandy Ridge North Carolina is located in northern Stokes County on state route 704 about 8 miles northeast of the county seat of Danbury.

 

Hancock County Courthouse — Sneedville, Tennessee

Hancock County, Tennessee is located in the northeastern part of the state near the Virginia border.

Hancock County was created from parts of Hawkins and Claiborne counties. The act establishing the county was passed by the state legislature in 1844, but several Hawkins residents sued to block its creation. In 1848, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled in favor of the new county. The county seat, Sneedville, was named in honor of attorney William H. Sneed, who represented the county in the court case. The county was named for Revolutionary War patriot John Hancock

Hancock County covers a rugged part of the state over 222 square miles and is home to 6,657 people making it the fourth smallest county population wise and one of the smallest area wise as well.

The Hancock County Courthouse is located in the county seat of Sneedville.  The Neoclassical courthouse was  designed by Allen N. Dryden and built by the Emory Construction Company in 1931.

Mill Creek School — Grayson County, Virginia

Located at an elevation of about 3,200 feet high up in the Appalachian Mountains of Southwest Virginia’s Grayson County is what once was Mill Creek School.

This school is located right on the northern side of what is now US 58, or the Highlands Parkway several miles east of the community of Mouth of Wilson Virginia.    From the looks of the previous picture I found on the Rugby, Virginia facebook page, dated 1953, at some point the school has been remodeled and had one side of the big windows replaced.  I believe this to have been a two room schoolhouse.

                                                            Mill Creek School — Grayson County, Virginia — 1953

Like most counties around this area,the 1960s brought along progressive movements in rural education and these smaller schools were closed as larger more centrally located schools were built.

Back in 2008 the school still appeared to be in fairly good shape.

Sadly the quality ofi my pictures from this visit arent that great.  I think I had a 5 Megapixle Canon back then and on top of that these are saved from compressed photos that have been hanging out over on Myspace for 7 years.   I hope to go back by Mill Creek School sometime soon when I am traveling to North Carolina.  That way I can do an updated set of photos and really give this gem the attention it deserves.

Lonesome Pine School — Hawkins County, Tennessee

Lonesome Pine School was located along state route 70 in northern Hawkins County near the Hancock County line in the community of Eidson.

The school was opened in 1941

and closed sometime in the 1960’s.  The building was most recently used by the Clinch Valley Volunteer Fire Department but is currently not used.

Martha School — Lawrence County, Kentucky

The Martha School is a typical 1930s Public Works school building constructed of cut sand stone.  It is located near the intersection of State Route 32 and State Route 459 in the western part of Lawrence County.

The building, when I photographed it in 2012 was being used for hay storage.

Jolo Grade School — McDowell County, West Virginia

When you drive in to McDowell County from the southwest from the Grundy, Virginia area you ascend the Tug Valley from a top a mountain on state route 83.  As you travel to the bottom of the valley from Paynesville toward Bradshaw and Iaeger, the first “town” you come to is Jolo.

Now there isnt a whole lot to see in Jolo, West Virginia.  Its your typical unincorporated small community in a coal mining area.   However, there is a pristine exampe of a vintage New Deal era school construction alive and well up on a hillside from the highway.

There is that fancy art-deco like font that has been found on many other schools from this era in McDowell.

Jolo Grade School was constructed in 1939 by the Public Works Administration.

The school closed sometime in the mid 1990s when students were then consolidated into Bradshaw Elementary less than 5 miles away.  This building now serves as a community center.