Central School, Hwy. 191, Johnston vicinity, SC. Photo by Haley Grant, 2009.

Thursday, May 23, 2013

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!
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2 comments:

  1. Carolina HeartStringsMay 23, 2013 at 3:31 PM

    Thanks for the acknowledgment. All I did was snap photos... YOU got busy doing research. Hope to read more about it and that we can find out if it was a white or AM school. By the way, I drove by it the other day and so far it remains undisturbed.

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  2. IthascharachterOctober 19, 2016 at 3:04 PM

    As of Oct 17-18 the corner land is still cleared, vagrants belongs have been removed, however the building is still there. A tree has damaged a small portion, and the center of the schoolhouse is starting to sag. Sad to see a historic site like this lost but I'm not sure it even could be saved at this point. We have photos, will submit.

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