Wanted! This Rural School That's Maybe in Edgefield County?

Seriously, have you seen or know of this school?

 In 2010, I had an internship with the South Carolina State Historic Preservation Office-- it was fantastic-- and my job was to survey selected counties for remaining Rosenwald Schools. Most of my time was spent compiling a list of schools to survey as well as mapping out the historic locations so that we could site check them. I would site survey, solo, in the counties around my home in Aiken in order to save time...and well, I loved the time by myself. I took the above photograph of this school on July 20, 2010 near the end of a not so successful surveying day. That day, I surveyed all of the known locations for Rosenwald Schools in Edgefield and Saluda Counties that I could not clearly view from satellite and Google Street View-- 9 schools out of 17. Unless, the historic locations turned up in the middle of a cleared field on the satellite image, I was going surveying.

I found the above schoolhouse en route to a Rosenwald School on my list.* So I was sweaty, out of patience, and very sleepy from the rhythm of hours of driving down miles of hot country roads. I drove by the schoolhouse initially then turned around to pull over for the photograph. It was in a cleared  cow pasture out in the middle of what I think was Edgefield County with no one around save for the inhabited house behind the school. And the cows. Now, I knew the road I was on at the time, but for the life of me, I don't know why I didn't write down the road then (well again, I was sweaty, impatient, and sleepy) in relation to the photograph. I also cannot remember any kind of landmarks or significant buildings that I could go back and find. I just know I was near a county line-- so either McCormick or Saluda--as I believe I was coming from Edgefield. Hence my hunt for this school. I'm becoming quite obsessed with finding it.


Similar schoolhouse designs found in Saluda County. Clockwise: Oak Grove, Saluda Primary, Saluda Colored Primary, and Fruit Hill. Photos from South Carolina School Insurance Photographs, 1935-1952.



Similar schoolhouse designs in McCormick County-- Bethany School and Lyons School. Photos from the South Carolina School Insurance Photographs, 1935-1952.

Someone has suggested this school looks like a Rosenwald School. This could be one, but it doesn't match up with those built in Edgefield or Saluda Counties. McCormick only had two Rosenwalds built and only one of those remain (see the Hopewell Rosenwald School National Register Nomination link in the right bar). If this school was a Rosenwald School, then it would have to be a modified Tuskegee plan. The roofline is very similar with a one roomed Tuskegee plan, but that was a common roof design for many country schools at the time. However, I am keeping my eyes and mind open-- I could be pleasantly surprised with what I will find.

I've looked in school insurance and Rosenwald file photographs....and so far, no cigar. I can also just search every field I can find via satellite images (I've found places this crazy way before) in Edgefield County near a county line--only half kidding! Regardless, I will find this school, though it may take many hours hunched over a computer or steering wheel! If any reader knows of this school, please email me at RuralSchoolhouseSC@gmail.com or go to the Rural Schoolhouses of South Carolina Facebook page.
-------------
* I did find an existing Rosenwald School that day. Canebrake School in Saluda County was a one roomed Tuskegee Plan and had been converted into a house after the school closed in the 1950's. Though altered with some additions, the original building and roofline remain the same-- keeping it a historically significant building, in my opinion. Future blog post, for certain.

Reader Submitted: Delemars School, Dorchester County







There's a schoolhouse where? Roofline is visible through the trees in top section. Images from Google.

A few months back, I received a message from Alessa, blogger at Carolina HeartStrings, concerning an historic school located in Dorchester County, South Carolina. The school is known historically as Delemars School and is located off of Delmar Highway (Hwy. 165) outside of the Summerville/Charleston area. Satellite images, topographic maps, and Google Street View fun ensued-- thankful for simple location information!-- and I was able to find the location pretty quickly. It is encased in trees in the satellite and Streetview images and if not for the photographs sent by Alessa, I would not have noticed it. Alessa states that the land now looks as if it is being cleared and wondered if the school would soon be demolished.


School shown near red balloon. Topographic map cited from a 1981 geological survey.



Schoolhouse not shown  in a 1915 Dorchester Co. USDA Soil Survey map. Map found at SCDL.

A search through the South Carolina School Insurance Photographs taken between 1935-1952 for Dorchester County was not successful-- I'd like to find historic photos eventually. Next, I checked a 1915 Dorchester County USDA Soil Survey map via the South Carolina Digital Library's collection. The school is not shown. I'd like to know if it was an white or African-American school-- I know it is not a Rosenwald School, at least. From the photos, the school appears to be a two-roomed schoolhouse with a hipped roofline. The entrance consists of two doors each leading into a large classroom. The classrooms are divided by paneled door partitions that can be pulled away or closed.

Interior of school. Photos by Carolina Heartstrings, 2011.

 

Façade and side elevations. Photos by Carolina Heartstrings, 2011.

More information about this school would be very welcome-- I will continue to hunt for more information about Delemars School. Please feel free to submit information and photographs, of this school or others, to RuralSchoolhouseSC@gmail.com. You are the strongest resource I have in finding and documenting rural schoolhouses! On that note, thank you to Alessa at Carolina HeartStrings!