Ketterman School (1890 - 1962)

PRIVATE PROPERTY. EXERCISE CAUTION AS YOU OBSERVE FROM THE ROAD.

Ketterman School was built on Dumpling Run Road; a one-room log framed structure on a stone foundation with a tin roof. As you drive up Dumpling Run Road, imagine having to walk to school, through all types of weather. No matter which end of Dumpling Run Road you lived on, you faced a steep hill at least one way of the journey. Now imagine having to carry a cooler full of water for your entire class for the day!

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

Researcher: Shefa Nola Benoit.

This school was first formed when the area was referred to as Masonville (the first name for the school). The name of the area changed to Dumpling Run and is now referred to as Moorefield.

Ketterman School was built on Dumpling Run Road; a one-room log framed structure on a stone foundation with a tin roof. Like most one-room schoolhouses, there was a central wood stove that kept the school warm during colder months and no doubt heated up drinks or soup to warm the belly. According to former classmates, "the stove would get so hot that the pine rosin would run out of the post" that supported the brick chimney. Others reported that "the old stove caught on fire many a time." (Whitson, page 167)

Students today may be surprised to know that Ketterman School pupils had to bring their own cups for drinking and, since there was no water at the school, had to go to neighboring homes with a cooler to collect water and carry it back.

As you drive up Dumpling Run Road, imagine having to walk to school, through all types of weather. No matter which end of Dumpling Run Road you lived on, you faced a steep hill at least one way of the journey. Now imagine having to carry a cooler full of water for your entire class for the day!

Today, the road is still rocky and shrouded with forest on both sides of it. It doesn't take a vivid imagination to picture yourself as a young student walking to school in this still wild environment.

After all that effort to get to school, it didn't make much sense to get in trouble but, if you did, you could expect to either stand in the corner, wear a dunce hat, or stay in for recess. I suspect if you were chronically mischievous, you may have been prohibited from enjoying the many special activities such as the Christmas play, spelling bees, or baseball games Ketterman students looked forward to.

This beloved school closed down for good in 1962.

Whitson, Suzanne. Remembering Early Hardy County, WV Schools: The 1976 Bicentennial Project. Moorefield, West Virginia: Hardy County Board of Education, 1976.