One Room Schools

Scott County Historical Society
Scott County, Virginia

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One Room Schools

Cedar Point School was originally built by Garfield and Edward Wood

By: James I. Wood

In 1879 a small plot of land was deeded to the Scott County School System for the purpose of building a school house thereon with the stipu­lation that the land revert to the farm owner if at any time the house should be abandoned.

This plot of land was a part of the Skillern Wood place mentioned in the History of Scott County.

A one room log building was erect­ed and used for several years and known as "Wood School", having been built in the Wood Community of Scott County in Moccasin Valley about fifteen miles east of Gate City.

This log building was used until a two room frame house was built nearby in the early nineteen hun­dreds. This house was known as "Mount Hagan" and was used until schools were consolidated several years ago.

Known teachers at the Wood School were Mr. R. M. Dougherty, Miss Lina Welsh and Miss Lena Wood.

The Wood School was built on the same farm where one hundred years earlier Fort Houston had stood, as related by Mr. Addington in the History of Scott County.

Central heating and indoor plumb­ing were unknown in these old country schools.

Mount Hagan had pot-bellied stoves for heat.

We boys carried water to drink from a small spring nearly one half mile from the school.

Another chore for the boys was to get switches. Back then teachers were allowed to discipline the students.

There were no indoor restrooms at Mount Hagan. The girls had an outside toilet. The boys didn't even have a toilet, what we had was a small grove of bushes about two or three hundred yards from the school house!

On occasions church services were held at Mount Hagan as there were no churches in the community for a long period.

A few of the teachers that were at Mount Hagan. over the years were Mr. Charles Smith, Fanny Carty, Mr. Ormer Addington, Donna Francisco, Elizabeth Fugate, Grace Fugate and Miss Ella Osborn.

Mount Hagan had a high ceiling and a partition to divide the two rooms. This petition could be raised by hand so as to form one large room as needed.

This old house has stood empty and silent for several years, a reminder of happy times many of us have spent there.

Some of the families living in the Wood Community of Scott County, surrounding Mount Hagan sixty years ago were: John Fugate, Holdway Fugate, Jack Parks, Scott Gose, Morgan Smith, Colonel Smith, Edward Smith, M. J. Wood, Charles Smith, Con Hammonds, Johnny Leece, Nelson Wood, J. G. Wood, Jerry Carty, Con Smith, Ferg Nickels, Walter Gray, Felix Stapleton, Jim Godsey, Will Wood, James M. Wood, L. B. Wood and John J. Wood.

There are just a few descendants of these families living in the community; most have settled elsewhere, while several yet live in Scott County.

I think that most of us older citizens look back to our school days with fond memories, more so if we were privileged to attend one and two room schools where we all knew everyone else.

Cedar Point School was built about the same time that Mt. Hagan was.  It is a few miles west of Mt. Hagan.  Two brothers, Garfield and Edward Wood, were the builders of Cedar Point School House.   The original Cedar Point School was a log structure.

A few of the students attending school in the old log building were:   John Henry Redwine, Flem Redwine, Dora Redwine, Bill Dean, Hugh Francisco, Ben Francisco, Rush Quillen, Hugh Moore, Ann Smith, Patsy Smith, Silas Fugate, Charles D. Fugate and Addie Smith.

Mrs. Emma Francisco Wood may have been the last teacher to teach in the present building at Cedar Point.

Mount Hagan was named for Patrick Hagan, a widely known attorney of Scott County.

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