Boydton Institute
Introduction
Text-to-speech Audio
Images
Boydton Institute - Image from the Old Brunswick Circuit Foundation
![Boydton Institute - Image from the Old Brunswick Circuit Foundation](https://storage.googleapis.com/clio-images/medium_60693.164509.jpg)
Backstory and Context
Text-to-speech Audio
The Boydton Academic and Bible Institute, commonly referred to as the Boydton Institute, was opened in September 1879 by an organization founded by Dr. Cullis, Faith Missions at Home and Abroad. The school opened with 15 students under the leadership of Rev. C. W. Sharpe and his wife, Mrs. Helen Bradford Sharpe, and enrollment increased to 30 during the first year. Rev. Sharpe died shortly after, but Mrs. Sharpe would devote the rest of her life to the school, serving in a number of capacities including matron, teacher, and associate principal. There was a combination of day and boarding students, and an orphanage was also attached to the school for several years. The headmaster’s house is known as Helensha Cottage in honor of Mrs. Sharpe.
Tuition in 1888 was $0.50 per month for day students; tuition was free for boarding students who paid $4.50 per month. By 1931, tuition was $1.50 per month and monthly boarding fees were an additional $3.25.
Many Boydton Institute students went on to become teachers and
ministers, and several became doctors, lawyers, and businessmen. Civil
Rights leader Vernon Johns attended the school, as did noted Appomattox
County educator Mozella Jordan Price. The Boydton Institute is
credited with hosting the first Kenyan Maasai student in the United
States, Molonket ole Sempele, from 1909-1912, who sold precious family
cattle to attend.
For most of its history, the Institute was primarily an elementary
school, with secondary school coursework to the second year of high
school. The first four year high school class graduated in 1927, but by
1930, the school taught only elementary grades. In 1902, the secondary
curriculum included courses in English Literature, Rhetoric, Civil
Government, Theory and Practice of Teaching, Bible History and
Interpretation, Theology, and Evangelistic and Pastoral Work. The school
also provided training in cooking, housekeeping, sewing and
dressmaking, and farming and animal care. A printing press and sawmill
operated on the property for many years, training students in these jobs
as well.
The Christian & Missionary Alliance took over the school and
operated it under a similar curriculum from 1910-1930, with the
additional goal of training missionaries. The school was later
transferred to the Boydton Institute Alumni Association and then to the
National Bible Training School. By the mid-1930s, the school closed for
good. A cannery was operated in part of the building during the
Depression, and the building was later abandoned and sold at auction in
1949. The roof of the brick Main Hall was severely damaged by Hurricane
Hazel in 1954 and was never repaired resulting in the current ruinous
state.