Historic Schoolhouses of Hardy County, WV - Complete TourFrom the 1800s through the mid-1900s, most of Hardy County's schools were one- or two-room schoolhouses, built in partnership with landowners, churches, the surrounding community, and the County school board. At its height, there were approximately 124 schoolhouses in the county serving their surrounding communities.
What was once a county dotted with single room schoolhouses that doubled and tripled as community hubs, dance halls, and places of worship, Hardy County began modernizing its approach to education as early as 1909. In 1903, West Virginia statewide legislation set uniform examination procedures that increased the standard of teacher certification, and, just a few years later, interest in a high school began to grow in the county. Moorefield High School opened in 1916 and, as technology evolved and student populations increased, so did demand for an education that was acceptable.
Improved facilities and improved roads that could better accommodate buses and travel increased attendance at consolidated schools. From 1927 to 1928, the number of rural schools in Hardy County dropped from 105 to 85, and the number of consolidated schools increased. A grade and high school also opened up in nearby Wardensville, and the updated curriculum and larger classes for each individual grade appealed to students and their parents. Many of these rural schools became obsolete by the 1940s and '50s, but their structures remain today as a window into days gone.
While brick and electricity replaced logs and wood stoves in the classroom, many of the core classes and principles that were taught in rural schools like the Sugar Grove School remained the same well into the mid-20th century.
According to the 1961 Handbook for Hardy County Teachers, music education was still a staple in the classroom, just like it had been for students at the Sugar Grove School. Though teachers in the 1960s had access to better equipment and larger class sizes, the singers and art of performance remained the same. Connecting through song was a universal opportunity, regardless of where and when it was happening.
Due to Hardy County's age and ties to old Virginia, it has been involved in the evolution of education in both Virginia and West Virginia (post 1863). Public education had been unorganized and unvalued pre-1875. “To begin with the year 1875 and compare educational statistics and history, we find an increasing public sentiment in favor of the public school system, and that there has been gradual progress along all educational lines.”
The first effort to organize education was the Virginia Literary Fund in 1810. This government aid assisted in paying tuition for poor white students. Little changed in the education system until 1846. It was then that legislation passed to authorize school commissioners to use local taxes to supplement state aid for the poor.
West Virginia, once a state of its own in 1863, set to regulate education within its borders. Both the 1863 and 1872 constitutions had established public school institutions, although much control still belonged to the individual county and towns.
Schools today have to pass levies and apply for federal and state grants to build new school buildings, but in 1859 things were much simpler. According to the account of William C. Baker and Isaac Frye, the new log schoolhouse for the Wardensville community cost $85.44, roughly $3,000 of today's money. “Hardy county, like others, began with log houses and some of the rudest kind, furnished with inconvenient and uncomfortable desks, if any, maybe slabs or puncheon benches, without backs, and possibly a kind of shelf which extended round the walls and served the pupils in writing.”
This trail allows you to view the structures that still stand (or are formally marked) while imagining a time when paved roads, motorized transportation, and culverts bridging streams did not exist. The woods were bigger, and schools could be as much as two miles away!
Hardy County is 584 square miles. Surprisingly, when asking for directions, Siri may tell you the mileage by crow and then by car - often a significant difference because of our beautiful mountains. Finding these historic schoolhouses is a good excuse to explore some of West Virginia's famous country roads that you would normally never use. Due to the time it takes to traverse our roads, this trail has also been organized into five smaller tours. Each of these tours can take a couple of hours, so be sure to soak in our bucolic scenery and enjoy the winding roads ahead of you!
IMPORTANT NOTES - PLEASE READ EACH ONE:
*DRIVE CAREFULLY! Our roads are winding and we share them with local residents, wild critters, hikers, and bikers. Take the weather into account as well. This is not a race, so take your time; be in the present as you peruse the past.
*CONSIDER ALL PROPERTY PRIVATE and abide by trespassing laws. Those properties that have the owner's permission for you to walkabout and peer through windows are noted.
*LEAVE NO TRACE. It's simple; take your trash with you. Leave our roads as pristine as you found them.
*DOWNLOAD OUR COLORING PAGES. Add a pack of crayons and let younger adventurers color actual schoolhouses as they identify them along the trail. You can find these at (URL).
Now, let's hit these country roads!
