ELLERBE — School was in session for the first time since 1922 at the Bostick Schoolhouse in Ellerbe on Sunday, but this time the school itself was the subject as more than 100 curious students of history walked the rows of desks to learn about a day in the life of an early 20th century student.
The Richmond County Historical Society, Inc. hosted an open house Sunday to allow those interested a chance to enter Richmond County’s only existing one-room school. Attendees read bios of past students and learned what their rules and
The building on Clayton Carriker Road in Ellerbe was a school for grades first through seventh from 1880 to 1922. It was then used as a shed for “various farm purposes” from 1922 to 1992 and later restored as accurately as possible to its original classroom form by Woodford and Lillian Sherrill and Carol McLean in 1998, according to the Richmond County Historical Society, Inc.’s website.
The Historical society held a dedication for the building in November 1998.
Woodford and Lillian Sherrill’s daughter, Brenda Baucom, now a committee member, said her parents always had a love for history, which was why they decided to do the restoration project. The restoration took them six years to complete. Baucom now considers herself a “caretaker” and said she wants to continue the traditions her parents started while they took care of the school.
“It’s a gem,” she said. “And it’s special to my family because of the time they spent working on it, and they enjoyed every minute of it. It was their heart and I’m carrying it on.”
This was the first open house they held for the Bostick School and Baucom was proud of the 102 people who came out to see it.
“I wasn’t expecting that many people to show due to limited exposure,” said Baucom. “But everyone seemed interested and enjoyed the day.”
Irving Law, who said he attended the dedication, came to the open house so he could copy down the rules set for the teachers back in 1915.
“I lost the rules after the (1998) dedication,” he said as he scribbled them down. “I used to write local history books.”
Some of the rules included not marrying during the term of their school contract, not loitering downtown in ice cream stores, they had to be home between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. unless attending a school function and dresses could not be any shorter than two inches above their ankle.
Wayne McInnis said he lived a few miles up the road from the school and that his mother, Martha McInnis, donated several items to be displayed in the school for the dedication. He came Sunday to drop off old article clippings from the dedication and a thank you letter from Baucom’s mom to his mom for the Historical Society to use.
“It brings back memories,” McInnis said as he looked around the old classroom. “I’m always learning something new.”
Reach Jasmine Hager at 910-817-2675 or [email protected].
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