Topsy School (1905 - 1942)

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Topsy is a one-room, wood-framed structure that still stands at the top of Branch Mountain. After leaving the Lost River State Park on Howards Lick Road, the school is located about five miles on the left. It operated from 1905 until 1942.

As a one-room school house, there was one teacher who taught all eight grades. Like may schools, the day ran from 9:00 AM until 4:00 PM for at least 6 months out of the year. Topsy did eventually extend its teaching term from 6 to 9 months. Besides the standard education of reading, writing, and arithmetic, Topsy also had the benefit of musical instruction and performed an annual Christmas play.

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.

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The original area school was named Grady but due to the structure's decline, it was closed. Topsy is a one-room, wood-framed structure that still stands at the top of Branch Mountain, about 5 miles on the left after leaving the Lost River State Park on Howards Lick Road in Mathias, WV. It operated from 1905 until 1942.

As a one-room school house, there was one teacher who taught all 8 grades. Like may schools, the day ran from 9:00 AM until 4:00 PM for at least 6 months out of the year. Topsy did eventually extend its teaching term from 6 to 9 months. Besides the standard education of reading, writing, arithmetic, and English, Topsy also had the benefit of musical instruction and performed an annual Christmas play.

Common among these historical schools, the community supported them in many ways and, on occasion, the County would compensate such efforts. Daily, assigned students would carry in buckets of water from home and transfer it into a cooler. Community members also provided the school with its wood for the wood stove. The building had many uses, including church services and a hunting lodge.

Today, it is closed up most of the year and blocked off. This writer has driven by it many times but it has never shown signs of activity.

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