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An Overview of Early School Buildings in Rockingham County
Robert W. Carter,
Rockingham County Historian
15 April 2002 

The first public school in North Carolina was opened on 20 January 1840 in Rockingham County. While the exact site of the school is not known it is believed to have been located in the present-day Williamsburg Community in the county’s southeastern section. The majority of schools built in the nineteenth century were of log construction. During the latter half of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries practically every community had a school. 

Charles Brantley Aycock was elected Governor of North Carolina in 1900 partly upon a platform that supported educational reform. Beginning with a 1902 rally at Wentworth School, Governor Aycock began a crusade which led to the building of hundreds of frame school buildings all over the state. Later governors continued Aycock’s momentum and by 1914 only four log school buildings were still in use in Rockingham County. Frame buildings soon replaced even these four schools. 

In the 1920’s and 1930’s, school consolidation gradually replaced the frame schools with larger more modern brick structures. African-American students continued to attend frame schools until 1950 when the old schools were sold by the county school board at public auction. As had been the custom, the new owners remodeled some of the former schools into homes or storage buildings, and in some cases, demolished them. With the passage of time many of these former schools have been allowed to fall into disrepair and ruin. However, over thirty former school buildings still stand around the county today. Of this number only four buildings are of log construction and the remainder are frame structures. 

Over the years the compiler has tried to locate and document former school buildings. Unfortunately little information is available on most of the buildings. It must be noted here that the minutes of the Rockingham County Board of Education 1885-1909 no longer exist- a great loss to researchers. There are probably a few other former school buildings around the county which are unknown to the compiler. Anyone having additional information or photographs of old schools is asked to contact Bob Carter at 336-951-2595. 

While the following list of former schools probably contains some errors, it was compiled from the best available information. The list contains the names and locations of the schools, dates of construction and closing of schools (when known), and current uses and conditions of the buildings. Since many of these buildings have no formal address their approximate locations have been indicated on a county map.