Vardy Museum
Introduction
Text-to-speech Audio
The Vardy Museum resides in the old Vardy Community Presbyterian Church. The Museum is located in the Vardy Blackwater community in Hancock County, Tennessee which has been home to the Melungeons, a triracial group with African American, Native American, and European ancestries, since the late eighteenth century. The Vardy Community Presbyterian Church was built in 1899 by the Northern Presbyterian Mission Church. In the same year, the Presbyterians also built a mission school for Melungeon children living in isolated communities along the Virginia-Tennessee border because they were banned from attending white schools. The Vardy Museum is a member of the Vardy Community School Historic District. This historic district contains eight different structures including the ruins of the Vardy Community School which was shut down in 1955 after the final ruling of Brown v. Board.
Images
Present day Vardy Museum, which resides in the old Vardy Community Presbyterian Church.
Early 1900 view of the Vardy School (top left building) and Vardy Presbyterian Church which has been turned into the Vardy Museum.
Sources
http://smithdray1.net/historicallyspeaking/2012/7-3-12%20The%20Vardy%20Museum.pdf
http://melungeon.ning.com/photo/vardy-museum
http://www.appalachianhistory.net/2011/05/educating-melungeons.html