Old Fields School (1815 - 1948)

PRIVATE PROPERTY OWNED AND MAINTAINED BY THE MENNONITE CHURCH. EXERCISE CAUTION AS YOU OBSERVE FROM THE ROAD.

Located just past Bueno Vista Farms on US Highway 220/WV-28 in Moorefield and before the Old Fields Country Store, the "Fort Pleasant Meeting House" sign (see photos) on the left marks the entrance to Old Fields School. You can observe the school in the distance from the road. Exercise caution as you pull over.

The Old Fields School, also known as the Fort Pleasant Meeting House and Old Fields Church, is located six miles north of Moorefield. This school was built by one of the original settlers in the area, Issac Van Meter, and is now the oldest school in West Virginia. It was constructed in 1812 and is still standing today. Issac Van Meter's tombstone can be seen in the cemetery outside the building. It was said Isaac donated all of the money needed to build the school and it was deeded to the Methodist Church.

This is a Mountain Heritage Trails project made possible through the support of the Hardy County Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Appalachian Forest National Heritage Area AmeriCorps program, and the West Virginia University Fulcrum Project.

Heritage Trail Project Coordinator: Shefa Nola Benoit

Researchers: James Seth Collins & Shefa Nola Benoit

Before Old Fields was settled by the Van Meters it was home to the native Shawnee Indians. The current Old Fields School was built in 1812 and is still standing. Also known as common school, the structure was constructed and largely funded through the labor of enslaved people, and started functioning as both a school and church in 1815. The current building was preceded by an Old Fields School (circa 1748), which was also a church, in the form of a log structure.

Old Fields received its name because it “sat in an old field”. As white settlers moved west during the 17th and 18th centuries in what is the modern day United States, the land was densely forested. Every now and then a plain field “made treeless by Indians (First Nation People), who used the cleared area to grow squash, Indian corn, and other crops” was found. When settlers came across these fields, they were either still in use or had been “abandoned for more fertile pastures”. These fields were old, contrasted to the “new clearings made by the ax, fire and plow of the white settlers”. When George Washington was in Old Fields in 1748 surveying lands for Lord Fairfax, the Shawnees were still in the area under famed chieftain Killbuck. Killbuck left Old Fields with his people for Ohio a few years later in 1753. 

The Old Field School that stands today was constructed in 1812 and started serving as both a school and church in 1815. There was originally an outside flight of steps that “led to a gallery occupied by enslaved people during worship services” that no longer exists. There were doors that suspended from the ceiling of that gallery that separated the building into two rooms when school was in session. The room nearest to the door was the school. The room divider was folded back up against the ceiling during services. 

Colonial education at Old Fields School was “neglected during the French and Indian War”. When the local residents felt it was time, they hired a schoolmaster who was sometimes also the preacher. In 1825, a six-month teaching term paid “$1.75 every quarter, one third to be paid in cash and the rest in grain.”

The Old Fields school is not only a piece of history, but it survived through many tough times. It was standing many years before slavery was abolished and was even visited by George Washington. From its first log cabin structure during the French and Indian War to the brick building that still stands today, Old Fields School is certainly a story of endurance. The school operated from 1812 until 1948 when consolidation practices demanded a newer four-room Old Fields School. 

Blizzard, William. “The Old Field School”. Charleston Sunday Gazette-Mail. (WV), September 14.

McCorkle, Constance. Constance McCorkle to Mr. Embree (n.d.). This Clipping Shows the 

Beginning of Old Fields School. Hardy County Archives. 

Thompson, Kathleen, Billy Joe Peyton, and Zachery Cowsert. "Fort Pleasant." Clio: Your 

Guide to History. October 12, 2020. Accessed April 27, 2022. https://www.theclio.com/entry/14147 

Whitson, Suzanne. “Remembering Early Hardy County, WV School,” The 1976 Bicentennial 

Project, August, 2008, 49.