Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School

The history of the Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School begins with the original founding of the Rabun Gap Industrial School in 1905. At the founding of the school, the Rabun Gap Industrial School was open to both boys and girls. A native of Rabun County in Georgia, Andrew Jackson Ritchie and his wife became the founders of the new school while the original school was designed by the Atlanta-born architect Haralson Bleckley. The land that was used to build the school was a 5-acre hilltop that was bought by Ritchie for $1 and a personal note.

The school itself was built in response to an educational need in the community of Rabun County, Georgia and designed to serve the children of the poverty-stricken area. For a time, the Rabun Gap Industrial School had the support of donations from various individuals and groups in the region. This changed during the onset of American involvement in World War I. In response to the lack of funding for the institution, Andrew Jackson Ritchie traveled to New England to solicit funding with an idea for expansion, which was called the Farm Family Settlement Program. Under this program, whole families would live in the town of Rabun Gap, where the school was located, with the men learning agriculture and women learning homemaking and health care whilst children would continue with usual studies. Ritchie successfully gathered funding from the Carnegie Foundation and the Rockefellers, who supported his idea. The donor who contributed the most, however, was Ernest Woodruff of the Coca-Cola Company and Trust Company of Georgia. With the new funding, the school added more acreage for the construction of new barns and farmhouses. This program lasted until the 1970s, when textile manufacturing became a key aspect of Rabun County.

In 1926, a stove fire destroyed the Rabun Gap Industrial School. In the following year, the school merged with the Presbyterian Christian school called the Nacoochee Institute. Formerly located in Sautee, Georgia, this institute was a boarding school for both boys and girls as well as a public school for White County, Georgia. In 1928, a new school building had been erected as the Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School. As part of the merger, the school had established a covenant with the Presbyterian Church (later known as PCUSA) and the school still partners with the church today. In 1934, the board of trustees of the school had added two years of junior college to their curriculum with the purpose of training teachers for Rabun County and these courses mirrored those taught at the University of Georgia. However, due to low enrollment during World War II, the junior college program was ended.

In 1977, when Rabun County had consolidated its public schools, the Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School was forced to become fully private. With much of the public funding now gone, the school struggled in collecting revenue to keep many of its programs running. Many of the faculty were forced to leave as well because they would no longer receive their retirement pension from the state if they did not move to the new Rabun County High School. In response, the school changed its course to create a college-preparatory curriculum along with changing admission standards to be more rigorous; this built prestige for the school and enticed more individuals from outside the area to send students there.

A legacy of an institution, the school still operates to this very day with over 600 students, with over 50 countries represented. Today, the school still focuses on college preparation for their students and many of these students receive financial aid for attendance. Currently, the Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School is a high-ranking boarding and day school that is nationally recognized. Along with this, the school is also recognized as a historical location and landmark by the Georgia Historical Commission, with a historical marker located outside of the campus in Rabun Gap, Georgia erected in 1967. The marker reads:

“One of Rabun County’s first college graduates, Andrew Jackson Ritchie received his B.A. and M.A. degrees from Harvard University before returning to his native county to devote his life to the education of the mountain people. In 1903 he founded the Rabun Gap Industrial School and in 1917 originated the ‘Farm Plan,’ ... The school operated independently until 1926, when it merged with the Nacoochee Institute, a school owned and supported by the Presbyterian Synod of Georgia. Under Dr. Ritchie’s presidency, the new school, chartered in 1927 and named Rabun Gap-Nacoochee, acquired more land, larger dormitories and classrooms, and began new educational programs. Dr. Ritchie ... served as President of the school until his retirement in 1939. In 1948, the year of his death, his ‘Sketches of Rabun County History’ was published. ... Dr. Ritchie, educator, scholar, and historian, is buried on the hill overlooking this school which his complete devotion created.”

Walton, Candace Craig. Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School, New Georgia Encyclopedia. November 30th 2007. Accessed October 25th 2020. https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/education/rabun-gap-nacoochee-school.

Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School: Our Mission, Our Heritage, 1903-2003. Edition 1. Rabun Gap, Georgia. Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School, 2002.

Statham, Frances Patton. Mountain Legacy: A Story of Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School With Emphasis on the Junior College Years. Edition 1. Atlanta, Georgia. Cherokee, 1999.

Rabun County Historical Society. Accessed December 11th 2020. https://www.rabunhistory.org/.

Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School. Accessed December 11th 2020. https://www.rabungap.org/.