Schools

Christian Home School

The Christian Home School was built originally on two acres of land located in the eastern part of Isle of Wight County between Longview and Everets. The Isle of Wight County School Board purchased the land from B. P. Chapman in 1921 for $400. Part of the funding for the school came from Julius Rosenwald, a former Sears, Roebuck and Company president, who contributed $4.3 million to build more than 4,000 schools across the South for black students. Black communities raised another $4.7 million in matching funds to build the schools. A 1932 addition was made to the original Christian Home School after community members raised money of their own and petitioned the county for money to expand the school. The strong support of the Christian Home community made certain that the educational opportunities would be available for the area youth. Two of the principals that served here were Mr. Elgin Lowe and Mr. Tate. This addition was moved to the historic district of Smithfield in 2004 and has been renovated and opened as a museum. The Schoolhouse Museum which opened in 2007 is an excellent example of an early one room school.  Additional information about the school, including oral interviews of former students, is available at www.theschoolhousemuseum.org. Credit – The Schoolhouse Museum.

Chuckatuck High School

Chuckatuck High School, completed in 1924, was a consolidated high school built to serve students from Chuckatuck, Crittenden, Driver and Kings Fork elementary schools.  The two-story building continued to serve the elementary school students after 1924.

The first graduating class in 1925 had four students, Kathleen Brough, Eugenia Eley, Marion Saunders and Alice Lee Underwood.

The 1925 annual was professionally printed and contains many pictures by Hamblin’s Studio. The next annual that I’ve seen was hand made for the Class of 1940. The school complex eventually included a gymnasium, built in 1927, a cafeteria, shop and bus garage. Eleven grades were expanded to twelve grades after the 1957 graduating class.

Principals between 1911 and 1919 included B. P. Tillery, G. W. Booth and W. S. Brent.  Herbert L. Duff was principal for one year, 1924-1925.  Mr. Christopher then served from 1925-1947.  He was followed by Gordon Brooks (1947-1949), Turnbull Gillette (1949-1951), Lewis F. Morris (1951-1964) and Lewis Melton (1964-1965).

Mr. Christopher and Mr. Morris were both very strong disciplinarians who stayed in Chuckatuck long enough to mold many young minds. One of those young minds was that of Drex Bradshaw who learned that throwing an eraser was not acceptable in school.  Although Drex was punished by having to throw an eraser from Chuckatuck to Sandy Bottom and back, noting how many times he had thrown the eraser,  it was not his fault, according to Drex, but that of his best friend, Arthur Raine.

While some schools in Virginia closed due to integration in the late 1950s and early 1960s Nansemond County schools remained open.  Students were able to select the school they wanted to attend in the fall of 1965 when Nansemond County started the “Freedom of Choice” program.  However, most schools remained segregated and zoning and bussing were put in effect in the fall of 1972 to achieve full integration as required by law. Integration in the Chuckatuck area was achieved without much fanfare.

The class of 1965 was the last class to graduate from Chuckatuck High School.  John Yeates High School near Driver replaced Chuckatuck in the fall of 1965.  At that time Mr. W. N. Rippey retired with the longest tenure having been with the school since 1927.

The school was then converted into Chuckatuck Middle School which closed in 1977.

The complex was bought by Saunders Supply Company in 1981 and reopened in 1982 as a lumber and hardware supply store.  The gymnasium is used as a warehouse and the cafeteria is used by the City of Suffolk for a branch library.  The early two story school was demolished in 1987.  The community is very appreciative to Mr. Al Saunders and his business partners for their vision that allowed Chuckatuck High School to remain in more than just our memories.

Chuckatuck Male and Female Institute

Researched and written by Lynn K. Rose

The Chuckatuck Male and Female Institute was formed in 1855.  It was founded by James Jasper Phillips, later a Colonel in the Civil War.  An 1851 graduate of VMI he sent many of his male students there.  The school he established was thought to have been located first at his home next to Wesley Chapel Church and later next to the Masonic Hall in Chuckatuck.  The latter building came to be known as the Village or Black Hall and was used for school functions as late as the 1930s. At the outbreak of the war he formed a unit that included young men who had been his students.  By 1857 the Institute became a female boarding school with courses ranging from Italian languages and literature to ornamental needlework. Frank Spady, Sr.’s grandmother, Maggie Mae Pitt, and her sister, Mary Lou Pitt, attended a female academy next to Wesley Chapel in the late 1900s.  Mr. Phillips’ former home burned and now four homes sit on the large lot.

The earliest schooling outside the home for some of my ancestors at Everets came from a neighbor and teacher, Miss Kate Cowling, sister to Miss Mollie.  In the early 1880s my great grandfather, John J. Kirk,, and a neighbor, Mr. Claude Minton, hired a teacher for the children of both families.  A small schoolhouse was built near the Kirk home.  The teacher, Miss Suzy Gilliam, lived for two years with each family.  After the Minton children finished school the teacher continued teaching my grandfather and his two sisters for two more years.  She was provided room and board plus $7 or $8 per month.  Later these children attended a school in Isle of Wight County, probably the same one Dr. Newman attended. Miss Gilliam taught at this school also.  One of my great aunts, Emma Paul Kirk, went to school for two years at the Suffolk Collegiate Institute and two years at the Southern Female College in Petersburg before returning to Everets in 1902 to teach for $25 a month.

Chuckatuck Military Academy

The Chuckatuck Military Academy is one of only 815 military schools to have operated in the United States since 1802.  This format of education was popular until the advent of the Vietnam War.  With the establishment of the Virginia Military Institute (1839) and to a lesser degree The Military College of South Carolina (The Citadel) (1841) the number of military schools in the south expanded rapidly.  In fact between the opening of Virginia Military Institute and the start of the Civil War at least thirty military schools were opened in Virginia.

James Jasper Phillips was a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute’s Class of 1853.  He had worked there for six months after graduation as an assistant math professor and went on to teach for a short time at the Glebe School in Norfolk Country.  In June 1854 he started the Chuckatuck Military Academy with 28 males and 20 females.  He adopted the demerit system of VMI “as near as it can be applied to a school like mine and…works like a charm.”  Males were uniformed in military cadet gray in a style that appears to be a combination of the VMI class and dress uniforms of the period.  The school was especially known for the female students as the Chuckatuck Male and Female Institute.  In turn you will see references to the school historically as the Chuckatuck Military Institute as well.

In January 1857 the school became all males, but in the fall 1857 until the June of 1859 the school under James Phillips leadership as Principal was operated as a girls’ school.  The school was called the Chuckatuck Female Institute and was housed in the Masonic Hall which James Phillips had purchased.  He was assisted by a Miss Powell and a Miss Cate, “ladies of distinguished ability, experience and popularity.”  The school was supported by the library of James Phillips and a demerit system to maintain “good order and strict discipline.”  According to a letter to the Virginia Military Institute superintendent, Phillips found himself in financial problems and reopened the school as a female boarding school which he stated was needed in the area and would be financially successful.  (Chuckatuck Female Institute, 1857, pp. 1,6-7).

On June 26, 1859 the school resumed as a military school and operated as such until approximately May 1861.  The Civil War ended the school’s operation with its principal, James Phillips, enlisting as Captain of Chuckatuck Light Artillery Battery, which later became F Company 9th Virginia Infantry Regiment.

The effectiveness of the education provided by the schools is reflected in several ways.  First according to the Virginia Research Center for Archaeology of Virginia the Chuckatuck Male and Female Institute made the town into an “education center.” (Virginia Research Center for Archaeology, 1991 p. 11).  In 1857, graduates were sent to West Point, Lynchburg College and Virginia Military Institute.  Second, an example of its graduates included Richard L. Williams, a member of the Yale Class of 1863 who later became a math professor at Starville Female Institute in Texas.  Other graduates known to have gone to Virginia Military Institute’ Class of 1860 are Oliver H. Butts, Walter A. Lawrence, Charles F. Urquhart and Joseph Boykin Whitehead.  Several other members of the same Chuckatuck graduating class we know only by last names: Murfee, Durfleet, McAlister and Richardson.  Sadly, Walter A. Lawrence, Richard L. Williams and Charles F. Urquhart all died in Confederate Military service during the war.

James Phillips rose to Colonel and commander of the 9th Virginia.  He was wounded twice during Picket’s Charge at Gettysburg, and captured at the last battle of the Civil War, the Battle of Saylor’s Creek.  After the war he was a very successful businessman, moved to New York and was the first President of the National League of commission Merchants of the United States and became the President of New York Board of Trade.  In a letter to VMI he was described as “a man and a soldier who possessed great personal magnetism.  Gallant soldier, upright merchant, courteous, cultivated gentleman and scholar, pure in heart, clear in speech, fearing none but God…” (Phillips, L.E., 1908)

Reference:

• Allardice,B.S. (2008) Confederate Colonels: A Biographical Register. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press.

• Chuckatuck Female Institute (1857) Circular of the Female Institute at Chuckatuck, Nansemond County. Norfolk, VA: Southern Argus Office.

• Phillips, J (1855-1860) Letters of James Jasper Phillips unpublished.  Virginia Military Institute (VMI) Archives & copies in possession of Mrs. Billie Earnest.

• Phillips, L.E. (1908) James Jasper Phillips’ obituary written for VMI.  Telephonic Interviews with Mrs. Billie Earnest with author.

• Rose, L (2011) Telephonic Interviews with Mrs. Billie Earnest with author.

• Trask, B. (1984) 9th Virginia Infantry.  Lynchburg, VA: H.E. Howard Inc.

• VMI Archives (2011) Biographies of Oliver H. Butts, Walter A. Lawrence, James J Phillips, Charles F. Urquhart, Joseph Boykin Whitehead.  Retrieved from VMI Archive Roster

• Yale Class of 1863 (1889) A History of the Class of 1863 Yale College, New York.  Aster Place, NY: J.J. Little & Co.

• Virginia Research Center for Archaeology (1991). Notes on Virginia. Issues 36-39.

Chuckatuck School (< 1924)

Researched and written by Lynn K. Rose

The original Chuckatuck School is believed to have been built between 1890 and 1900.  The Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of the Commonwealth of Virginia for the School Years 1903-1904 and 1904-1905listed the Chuckatuck Graded School as a “Public Graded School Teaching Some High School Branches.”  The principal in 1905 was Mrs. Kate S. Byrd.  This older building once served area students in all grades who often arrived by horse and buggy, housing their horses in a stable at the school.  Ercile Beale Haughwout said she and her siblings would carry horse feed in the cart for the middle of the day.

In an effort to show modes of transportation for early students we quote from an article published by the Daily Press, May 7, 1961 about the retirement of Lucien Hall, Isle of Wight superintendent for 40 years.  “The first bus or truck used, in 1917, was a rented vehicle and the first modern bus was purchased in 1927.  Previously wagons were used.  The “kid wagons” were canvas topped farm vehicles drawn by one auto or two teams transporting up to 20 students”. We imagine Nansemond County would have used similar vehicles.

Of course, many children did not have the luxury of riding to school. I’ve been told of students who walked from near Longview to Chuckatuck, taking a short cut across the ravine between what is now Longview Drive and Route 10.  Often paths from the homes on the rivers and creeks were very long and children had to walk to the highway to catch the bus.  I was told of little Marion Saunders, CHS Class of 1925, keeping her school shoes in a hollow of a tree near what is now Everets Road so she would have clean shoes to put on after walking from her family home on Everets Creek. Up until the 1950s it was not uncommon for students to remain at home to work on the farms during part of the school year.  In 1943 there were two freshman classes, but only one class for each of the upper classes, mainly because the older students were old enough to go to work.  Even in the 1950s Nansemond County buses still had to travel over many dirt roads.  It was not uncommon for  classes to be dismissed early on a rainy day because of concerns about the safety of the children.

The following is quoted from the journal of Stokes Kirk.  “While I was in high school at Chuckatuck, we had very good teachers – F. H. (“Cutie”) Christopher, Miss Ames (sister of Ed Ames), Miss Shreves and Miss Douglas.  Some of the teachers roomed with the Dr. L. L. Eley’s.  The school buses (three) were driven by students.  W. G. Saunders, Jr. drove the first bus from the Everets area to Chuckatuck.  It was no more than a flat bed truck with side and top and benches.  Later Bus #2 was bought by the school board and was driven by a Spivey girl from Milner’s Neck.  Evelyn Saunders drove it during the school year 1927-28.  1928-29, I drove the bus until December when I broke my arm trying to crank it.  I lost about three weeks.  Dad put a starter on it out of his own pocket and I had no more trouble.  The 1929 Chuckatuck graduating class had two girls – Mary Holland and Mildred Godwin, seven boys – Alec Moore, Charles Gwaltney, Richard Rhodes, Norman Carson, Jack Gayle, Ray Furman and me.”

Everett’s Bridge School

Researched and written by Lynn K. Rose

The Everett’s Bridge School building still exists today and is owned by Lewis Morgan. This building was once located in the yard of the T. J. Saunders’ home and also across from the home near the current Lake Burnt Mill.  Lynn Rose has a desk from the school, a picture of the school that was taken about 1913, a picture of students, as well as a report card. Some of the families that attended the school were the Prudens, Edwards, and Saunders (W.G. and T.J.,Jr.).  The Nansemond County High and Graded Schools included the Everett’s Bridge School as late as 1916.  It had closed by 1924.

Oakland School

The village of Chuckatuck is fortunate to still have one of its first schools.  The current Oakland Elementary School is built around an earlier Oakland School, a former school for blacks in Chuckatuck.  In addition to serving our young people as a school it also offers after school activities in the community for all ages.  (pics of Oakland School and activities.)

After a conversation with Mrs. Clarice G. Whitfield, the information revealed that there was a one room school for the Black children to attend in Oakland. Mrs. Maude Graves, her mother attended such a school. John Lee Wilson was born in 1917 in Oakland, Nansemond County, Virginia. He attended school until third grade. During that time frame, the school that he, Mrs. Graves, and other children attended was not part of the Nansemond County School system. According to an article in the Virginian Pilot, dated 8-28-97, “New Oakland Elementary School keeps some roots to its history,” in 1929, the Nansemond County School Board built a four room school–Oakland Elementary. This school was opened for the African American children in the Oakland Community. The school had potbelly coal stoves for heat; windows were open and notebook fans were made useful for keeping cool in warm and hot weather. Water was supplied by a pump at Mrs. Bland next door, when the school pump broke down. Eventually, the school hooked up to the community water system.

The school had plenty of clear ground and wooded area close by. The children played games as baseball, hide and seek, running races, bobby jacks, hopscotch, cowboys and Indians dodge ball, jump rope, and other activities. In the early 1950s the Parent Teacher Association designated a committee to go to the school board to ask for playground equipment for the children. The request was granted and a swing, slide and a merry-go-round were installed. A daily exercise done by all of the community children was walking to and from school. Until the new Oakland Elementary school was built, the students went home for lunch or brought a bag lunch to school. On special occasions, the class members would bring hot dogs with all the fixings, potato chips, cookies, kool-aid, and so forth to have a class party. At other times they would bring can milk, sugar, eggs, flavor to make and freeze ice cream (made by Mary Wilson-Copeland).

The classes would give plays for Christmas, school closing, Black History Week Programs, and every school morning began with School Devotions which included Singing, Bible Verses, and Prayer. Since two grades were in the same room, students were able to listen in on the other class lessons. This was done by Sevella Wilson-Barcliff. She was proficient enough to do her class work and that of the class ahead of her and she passed from fourth grade to sixth grade (she was completely tested before such a move was made).

Many students completed Oakland Elementary school to go on to attend East Suffolk High School. Some of those who attended college and/ or received college degrees were: Miss Ira Johnson, Mr. George Lewis Cowling, Ms. Dorothy Cowling, Ms. Helen Glover, Dr. Bernard Glover, Mr. Lindwood Edwards, Mr. Shaderick Brown. Dr. Thomas Brown, Mr. Leroy Porter, Lawyer Leslie Smith (who was murdered in Washington, D.C. in the prime of his career), Savannah Williams, Mary N. Wilson-Copeland, Larry Boothe, Joan Boothe-White, Sevella Wilson-Barcliff, Lorine Wilson-Watkins, Azurea Robinson-White, S. Eugene Porter, Rev. Ollie Wilson, and others.

Some of the teachers who taught at the school were: Ms. Lena Bonds, Ms. Mary S Lawrence, Ms. Dorothy Diggs, Mrs. Evelyn K Chapman, Ms. Ruth Steward, Ms. Clara Lee, Mr. Lindwood Edwards, Rev. Willie F. Evans (Principal), George Lewis Cowling, Ms. Ira D. Johnson, Ms. Simons (Principal), and others.

A Special Note: In the four room Oakland Elementary School, Miss Leona Sevella Copeland, daughter of Mrs. Mary Wilson-Copeland, taught a fourth grade class in the same room where her mother was a student in fourth grade.

Oakland Elementary School

Oakland Elementary School was the school where the local children attended. According to records, it is known to have been open in the early 1900s. Many residents completed the Oakland Elementary School and then continued their education at East Suffolk High School in Suffolk. Some of those that attended college and those who received Bachelor Degrees were: Miss Ira Johnson, Mr. George Lewis Cowling, Ms. Dorothy Cowling, Ms. Helen Glover. Dr. Bernard Glover, S. Eugene Porter, Leroy Porter, Lawyer Leslie Smith (who was murdered in Washington D. C. in the prime of his career), Savannah Williams, Mary N. Wilson-Copeland, Sevella Wilson-Barcliff, Lorine Wilson-Watkins,Azurea Robinson-White, Joan Boothe-White, Larry Boothe, Lindwood Edwards, Shaderack Brown, Thomas Brown, PhD, and others.

Sandy Bottom School

As the Diamond Grove Baptist Church and the Sandy Bottom community began to grow and flourish, the children needed to be formally educated. The parents and other members of the community came together to establish the first school. This school was located directly behind the church. As enrollment grew, a larger building was required, therefore one was erected across the road in front of the church.

The teachers were the same at both schools: Ms. Daisy Ricks, Ms. Clara Banks, and Ms. Bertha Blizzard. The student enrollment outgrew the second building, also. A community committee of citizens contacted the Nansemond County School Board seeking to have an adequate structure built—one that would sufficiently accommodate the growing population. After some time, this dream became a reality. Sandy Bottom Elementary School, grades 1-7, was constructed and remained in existence for many years.

The Sandy Bottom Elementary School was a haven for most students. They met their friends, played games, and enjoyed other activities while also completing their required subject matter. Through the years, the teachers were: Ms. Annie Roberts, Ms. Bernice Owens, Ms. Priscilla Bullock, Ms. Cora Boone, Mr. Leroy Porter, Ms. Della Lawrence, Ms. Ruth Darden, Ms. Georgia Williams, Mrs. Bynum, and Mr. Lindwood Edwards.

Eventually, Nansemond County School Board deemed it feasible to consolidate the schools in Sandy Bottom, Hobson, and Oakland communities. The new school was located in Oakland and was named Oakland Elementary School to include grades 1-7. Later Oakland Elementary was changed to accommodate grades K-5.

The students said their farewell to Sandy Bottom Elementary School in 1961. Today, 2011, the school remains in good condition and is currently owned and used by the Diamond Grove Baptist Church as its Fellowship Hall.