An Institutional History of Education in Pocahontas County, West Virginia: 1800-1899
The Educational Landscape of Antebellum Western Virginia
To comprehend the history of education in Pocahontas County during the 19th century, one must first understand the broader educational and political context of the Commonwealth of Virginia, of which the county was a part until 1863. The development of schooling in the mountainous western counties was not an isolated phenomenon but was profoundly shaped—and largely constrained—by the prevailing philosophies, legislative priorities, and cultural schisms of the Old Dominion.1
Historically, Virginia was reluctant to establish a comprehensive, state-funded system of free public schools. The educational model that dominated the Commonwealth was fundamentally bifurcated, reflecting its stratified social structure. For the children of the wealthy planter class, education was a private affair, typically conducted by tutors hired to live on the plantation.
This system was designed to provide a classical education befitting a future gentleman and leader. For the less affluent, including the children of overseers, craftsmen, and small farmers, a different model emerged: the subscription-based "common school".1 These institutions, often called "Old Field Schools" because they were frequently built on fallow agricultural land, were funded directly by the families whose children attended. They were independent of government control, with parents collectively hiring a schoolmaster and funding the school's operation. This common school system formed the basis of most early education in what would become West Virginia.1
The state's legislative efforts in the early 19th century did little to alter this fundamental structure. In 1810, Virginia established a "Literary Fund" intended to support education, with a provision in 1818 earmarking money to pay the tuition for poor white children to attend the existing common schools.2 However, this policy was largely ineffective in the western counties. Many families, possessing a strong sense of pride and independence, were unwilling to accept the social stigma of being labeled "paupers" to receive the aid. Consequently, the funds were often left unused, and the subscription model remained the primary means of schooling for those who could afford it.2
This system perpetuated a significant ideological and political divide between eastern and western Virginia. The eastern elite, whose power base was in the Tidewater and Piedmont regions, prioritized higher education. Their focus was on institutions like the University of Virginia, established in 1819, which they viewed as essential for training an intellectual elite to govern the state.2
In contrast, leaders in the western counties, representing a society of small-scale farmers and tradesmen, championed a program of free elementary education. Their constituents needed practical skills—basic reading, writing, and arithmetic—for everyday life and commerce, not a classical education for leadership roles they were unlikely to fill.2
The tension between these two visions came to a head in the 1840s. The 1840 Census revealed a startling increase in illiteracy across Virginia, galvanizing calls for reform. A pivotal event was the educational convention held at Clarksburg in September 1841. There, prominent western leaders like Henry Ruffner, then president of Washington College, argued passionately for the establishment of free schools that would be "good enough for the rich," thereby encouraging all classes to attend and eliminating the pauper stigma.2
While this movement spurred debate, the eastern establishment prevailed. A subsequent law passed in 1846 authorized local counties to use tax revenue to supplement the state aid for the poor, but it was a permissive law, not a mandate. Before the Civil War, only four counties in what is now West Virginia—Kanawha, Ohio, Monroe, and Jefferson—managed to establish functioning free public schools under this system.2
Pocahontas County was not among them. Its educational development in the first half of the 19th century was thus a direct consequence of this foundational neglect by a state government that neither understood nor prioritized the needs of its western citizens. The county's earliest schools were not the product of a system, but of the sheer determination of its pioneer settlers operating within a political framework that offered them little support.
Pioneer Pedagogy: Early Schooling in Pocahontas County (1800-1841)
The earliest educational efforts in Pocahontas County were born of necessity and individual initiative, arising in a rugged frontier environment where survival was the paramount concern. The first documented school teacher in the region, James Baker, met a violent end in 1786, killed in an ambush by a Native American warrior.3 This stark event underscores the perilous conditions under which the first seeds of formal learning were sown. In the absence of any state-supported system, education was a private or localized community enterprise, taking forms as varied as the settlers themselves.
The dominant model was the "Old Field School," a subscription-based institution funded by a group of families. A prime example was the Old Field school house in the Edray District, where Elijah Hudson taught for many terms, providing an education for his own children and those of his neighbors who could contribute to the schoolmaster's pay.3 This arrangement was entirely dependent on the collective will and financial ability of the local community.
In other instances, education was a purely private family undertaking.
The Kee family—brothers George, Joshua, Andrew, and John—took it upon themselves to build what was described as "one of the most comfortable school houses in their section of the county" near a stone quarry, constructed entirely at their own expense for the sole purpose of educating their children.3 This demonstrates that for families with the means and foresight, providing an education was considered a fundamental parental responsibility, one they had to fulfill without any expectation of public assistance.
These early schools were scattered across the landscape, often operating out of log cabins or spare rooms in homes. Their existence was frequently tied to a single schoolmaster. William Young, for instance, established a reputation as a grammar specialist, first teaching for a few months after learning surveying at John McNulty's school near Marvin Chapel, and later opening his own school on Stony Creek near the residence of George Baxter, where he held a "monopoly on grammar teaching" for many years.3 Another school is mentioned as having operated on Rush Run, where Young's first teachers had taught.3
The "faculty" of this era was a diverse collection of literate individuals. Some, like William McNeil, were among the earliest to make teaching a primary profession.3 More commonly, teaching was one of several roles a respected community member might fill.
Rev. James E. Moore, a Methodist minister and farmer, taught school intermittently in many different locations over a period of fifty to sixty years.3 The teacher was a respected figure, but the role was not yet a distinct, professionalized career. This ad-hoc network of schools, tutors, and patrons defined education in Pocahontas County for the first four decades of the 19th century. It was a system characterized by its fragility and lack of standardization, where access to learning depended entirely on a family's proximity to a willing schoolmaster and their ability to pay for the service.
The Academy Movement: A New Era of Formal Education (1842-1863)
The year 1842 marked a watershed moment in the educational history of Pocahontas County. In a single, coordinated legislative act, the Virginia General Assembly chartered three academies within the county's borders, located at Green Bank, Hillsboro, and the county seat of Huntersville.4 This was not a grassroots development but a top-down initiative, representing the county's first engagement with structured, state-sanctioned secondary education.
The explicit purpose of these institutions was the "preparation of students for the University of Virginia," a mission that reveals the political and cultural motivations behind their creation.4
The establishment of these academies can be seen as a strategic response by the Virginia government to the growing discontent in its western territories, which had been vocalized at the 1841 Clarksburg Convention.2
Rather than funding the universal elementary education that westerners demanded, the state compromised by investing in elite secondary education. This move served the state's interest by creating a formal pipeline to its flagship university, aiming to acculturate the region's brightest young men into the political and cultural norms of the eastern establishment. It was an act of state-building, designed to bind the future leaders of the western counties more closely to the Commonwealth.
The strategic placement of the academies in the county's main centers of population and commerce—Huntersville (political), Hillsboro (agricultural), and Green Bank (commercial)—further underscores the deliberateness of this policy.4
These academies represented a profound leap forward from the log cabin schools of the pioneer era. They were often substantial brick buildings, staffed by professional educators, and offered a curriculum far more advanced than the basic "three R's."
Huntersville Academy
Established around 1841-1842, the Huntersville Academy served the educational needs of the county seat and the surrounding area.4 Though detailed records of its curriculum and faculty are scarce, its chartering as a preparatory school for the University of Virginia indicates a classical course of study. The academy's legacy as an educational center for the community continued long after its closure; a new two-room, two-story schoolhouse, the Huntersville Grade School, was constructed near the original academy site in the late 1880s.5
Hillsboro Academy
Chartered in 1842 and also known as the Little Levels Academy, this institution became so central to the identity of its community that the town's post office was officially renamed "Academy" in 1852.7 The academy was a prominent brick building that provided higher education for boys.9 A separate school for girls, known as Hillsboro College or the Little Levels Seminary, operated out of the basement of the Methodist Church.9 The Hillsboro Academy closed at the onset of the Civil War. After the war, in 1865, the county purchased the building and ran it as a public school until the 1880s, when it was eventually torn down and replaced by a wood-frame school for both boys and girls.9 The site of the original brick academy was later occupied by the Archie F. Walker homeplace.10
Green Bank Academy
The Green Bank Academy provides the most detailed available case study of this movement. Its origins lay in an earlier "pay school," but in 1842 it was re-established as a free school, largely through the influence of its first teacher, Professor Benjamin Arbogast.11 The academy was a modern brick building, similar to its counterparts in Hillsboro and Huntersville, and was considered one of the most advanced structures in the county.11 It served a student body of 65 to 75 pupils, many of whom had to board in the town of Green Bank due to the difficulty of travel.11
The curriculum was rigorous enough that a graduate, after attending a week-long institute and passing an examination administered by the County Superintendent, could become a qualified teacher.11 This demonstrates the academy's role not only in preparing students for university but also in creating a local supply of educators. The academy building was remodeled after the Civil War and served the community until 1916, when it was replaced by the Green Bank High School.11
The Academy Movement, though short-lived and disrupted by the Civil War, fundamentally altered the educational landscape of Pocahontas County. It marked the transition from informal, grassroots schooling to formal, state-sponsored institution-building, laying a new foundation for secondary education in the region.
Forging a New System: Public Education After West Virginia Statehood (1863-1900)
The creation of West Virginia in 1863 was the single most transformative event in the educational history of Pocahontas County. The new state's first constitution included a radical provision that stood in stark contrast to Virginia's historical posture: it mandated the legislature to establish and maintain a "thorough and efficient" system of free public schools for all children.2 This was not merely a policy change; it was a foundational act of political self-definition, a deliberate rejection of the elitist educational philosophy of the Old Dominion and a promise of universal access to its new citizens.
To implement this vision, the legislature created a hierarchical administrative structure. A state superintendent of schools was established, with county superintendents overseeing educational matters at the local level. Counties were subdivided into townships, which were further divided into sub-districts where school affairs were often handled in mass meetings.2 This framework was designed to build a public system from the ground up.
The challenge was monumental. In a rural, mountainous, and war-recovering state, the task of funding, constructing, and staffing thousands of new schools was immense. By 1870, West Virginia had established 2,270 schools, the vast majority of which were simple one-room, one-teacher structures.12 In Pocahontas County, this meant the rapid proliferation of locally controlled one-room schoolhouses dotting the landscape.2
Interestingly, a precedent for this type of local governance in education had emerged in the Edray district of Pocahontas County nearly two decades earlier. Around 1846, a local leader named Isaac Moore (also referred to as William Rives Moore) had successfully campaigned for the creation of a local Board of Education to supervise the district's schools.
He also led what was described as a "spirited controversy" to reform teaching methods, advocating for "silent schools" where pupils studied quietly, rather than the "noisy vocal schools" where lessons were recited aloud simultaneously. His reform was adopted, demonstrating an early local interest in the systematic improvement and administration of schools.3
However, the progressive step toward universal public education was built upon a deeply contradictory foundation of racial segregation. From its inception, the new system was legally divided. The legislature required townships with more than 30 eligible Black children to educate them in separate buildings.2 This policy was cemented and expanded in the state's 1872 Constitution, which unequivocally stipulated that "white and black students should not be taught in the same school".2
This mandate created two parallel and inherently unequal educational systems. It placed an immediate and severe logistical and financial burden on counties like Pocahontas, which now had to find the resources to build and staff two separate sets of schools.
Given the county's limited tax base and the prevailing racial hierarchies of the era, funding for schools designated for African American children was invariably a lower priority. The history of public education in Pocahontas County from 1863 to the end of the century is therefore a dual narrative: one of progress and expansion for the white majority, and one of struggle, perseverance, and community-driven achievement for the African American minority who sought the education promised to them by the new state.
A Segregated System: The History of African American Education
The legal framework governing the education of African Americans in Pocahontas County underwent a dramatic reversal in the 19th century. Under Virginia law, it was illegal to teach enslaved people to read or write.13 Following the creation of West Virginia, this prohibition was lifted. An 1866 state law provided for the establishment of public schools for African Americans in districts with at least thirty school-aged children, a threshold later lowered to ten.13
The 1872 State Constitution then made this segregation mandatory, constitutionally separating the educational tracks for Black and white students.2 While there were eight such schools for Black youth in Pocahontas County over time, including the Greenbrier Hill School in Marlinton (established in 1917, just outside this report's timeframe), the most well-documented 19th-century institution is the Seebert Lane Colored School.14
Case Study: The Seebert Lane Colored School
The history of the Seebert Lane Colored School offers a powerful lens through which to view the challenges and triumphs of African American education in post-Civil War Pocahontas County.
Name and Location: The school is located in the community of Seebert, on a corner lot at the junction of U.S. Route 219 and County Route 27 (Seebert Road).15 Over its history, it was also known by the names
Pleasant Green School and Hillsboro School.15
Founding and Construction: The school's origins date to February 3, 1876, when a prominent local landowner, William L. McNeel, deeded a four-tenths of an acre plot of land to the Pocahontas County Board of Education specifically for the purpose of establishing a school for African American children.16 However, the physical schoolhouse was not constructed until circa 1898, more than two decades later.15
This significant 22-year gap between the legal provision of land and the actual construction of the school is a silent testament to the probable difficulties faced by the local Black community. While the Board of Education held the deed, the long delay strongly suggests that funding for the "colored school" was not a priority and that the impetus, resources, and perhaps even labor for the eventual construction had to be marshaled by the community it was meant to serve.
Architecture and Significance: The schoolhouse, built by Robert Samuel Jordan, is a classic one-room school.15 It is a one-story, front-gable frame building measuring approximately 24 by 40 feet, featuring a small porch, a distinctive cupola, and a separate, contributing fuel shed for storing coal or wood for the stove.15
The interior consisted of the main classroom, flanked by two cloakrooms at the entrance, with a large slate blackboard across the rear wall.16 The building's historical and cultural importance was formally recognized in 2012 when it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.15
Educational Environment: Despite the inequities of the segregated system, the Seebert Lane School became a point of pride and a center of quality education. In October 1921, the renowned photographer Lewis Hine documented the school and its students as part of his work for the National Child Labor Committee. His notes for the photograph, which he titled "Pleasant Green School," describe it as "one of the best colored schools in the County, with a capable principal holding a first-grade certificate".17
He also noted that all the children were active members of an Agricultural Club, indicating a curriculum that was both academic and practical.17 The school continued to operate until the era of desegregation, likely closing around 1954.15
The history of the Seebert Lane Colored School is therefore not simply a story of segregation, but one of profound community agency. It represents the perseverance of a community that waited over twenty years for a promised school and then built it into an institution of acknowledged excellence, providing generations of Black children with the educational opportunities that had been denied their ancestors.
A Gazetteer of 19th-Century Pocahontas County Schools
The educational landscape of 19th-century Pocahontas County was a mosaic of institutions, evolving from isolated pioneer efforts to a network of state-sanctioned public schools. The following table and descriptions synthesize available records to provide a gazetteer of the schools known to have operated during this period.
School Profiles
Pioneer and Subscription Schools (c. 1800-1840s)
This earliest group of schools was characterized by its informal structure and private funding. They were typically run by a single schoolmaster in a log building or a private home. Schools like the Old Field School House in Edray, John McNulty's School, and William Young's School on Stony Creek were entirely dependent on the fees paid by local families.3
Others, like the school built by the Kee family, were private ventures for a single family's benefit.3 These institutions laid the groundwork for community-based education but lacked the stability and standardization of later systems.
The Academies (1842-c. 1861)
The chartering of the Huntersville, Hillsboro, and Green Bank Academies in 1842 represented a paradigm shift.4 These were state-sanctioned secondary schools with a specific mission: to prepare young men for the University of Virginia. They were housed in substantial brick buildings and offered a classical curriculum that went far beyond basic literacy.9 The academies elevated the standard of education in the county's three main population centers and began the process of professionalizing teaching, but their operation was largely curtailed by the outbreak of the Civil War.
Early Public and Community Schools (c. 1863-1900)
Following West Virginia statehood, the county began to build a system of free public schools, most of which were one-room schoolhouses serving specific rural communities. Schools like the Hoover School on Back Mountain Road and the Frost School, in use by 1892, were typical of this era.18 A distinct subset of these schools emerged in the late 19th century with the rise of the timber industry. The lumber boom created new, often remote, towns like Dunlevie and Spruce, which required their own schools, such as the Dunlevie School and the Spruce School, to serve the families of mill workers and loggers.20
Segregated Schools
The establishment of the public system also mandated the creation of separate schools for African American children. The most prominent of these founded in the 19th century was the Seebert Lane Colored School (also known as Pleasant Green School) in Seebert, constructed around 1898 on land that had been set aside for that purpose in 1876.15 This institution, and others like it, operated parallel to the white schools until desegregation in the mid-20th century.
The Educators of a Century: A Roster of Pocahontas County Teachers
The story of education is incomplete without acknowledging the individuals who stood in the classroom. In 19th-century Pocahontas County, teaching evolved from a role filled by various literate community members into a more defined profession. The following table, compiled primarily from William T. Price's Historical Sketches of Pocahontas County and other local histories, lists many of the educators who served the county's youth during this period.3
The backgrounds of these educators reveal the changing nature of the profession. The pioneer era was dominated by individuals for whom teaching was one of several vocations. Ministers like Rev. James E. Moore, public officials like surveyor Sampson L. Mathews, and individuals who turned to teaching due to disability, like Mr. Auldridge, formed the backbone of the early educational workforce.3 Their primary qualification was their own literacy and their standing in the community.
The Academy Movement of 1842 heralded a shift toward professionalization. The arrival of figures like "Professor" Benjamin Arbogast at Green Bank Academy signaled a new expectation for specialized knowledge and pedagogical skill.11 The academies themselves became incubators for new teachers, creating a path for graduates to enter the profession.11
Following the establishment of the public school system after 1863, the role of the teacher became more formalized, with county-level supervision and, eventually, state-level certification processes.
The establishment of Normal Schools across West Virginia in the late 19th century, such as those at Marshall College and Fairmont, further cemented teaching as a distinct career path, though the impact of these institutions would be felt most strongly in the 20th century.2 The roster of 19th-century teachers in Pocahontas County thus captures a profession in transition, moving from an informal community role to a cornerstone of the public good.
Conclusion: From Pioneer Tutors to a Public System
The history of education in Pocahontas County during the 19th century is a narrative of profound transformation, mirroring the region's own journey from a rugged Virginia frontier to a county within the new state of West Virginia. The century began with education as a scarce, private good, secured only by the initiative of individual families and the availability of itinerant schoolmasters in isolated "Old Field Schools." It ended with a state-mandated, county-administered public system, built on the principle of free education for all citizens.
This evolution was driven by major historical forces. The first half of the century was defined by the political and cultural tensions of antebellum Virginia, where the educational needs of the western counties were largely ignored in favor of an elite, university-focused system. The 1842 Academy Movement was a brief but significant intervention, a state-led effort to cultivate a loyal leadership class that nonetheless elevated the standard of education in the county's main towns.
The pivotal moment was the creation of West Virginia in 1863. The new state's constitution enshrined the principle of a "thorough and efficient" free public school system, a radical break from the past that set in motion the difficult work of building an educational infrastructure from scratch. However, this progressive ideal was fundamentally compromised by the simultaneous legal codification of racial segregation.
This created a dual system, forcing the county to support two parallel sets of schools and institutionalizing inequality from the start.
The story of the Seebert Lane Colored School exemplifies this complex legacy. Its history is one of both systemic neglect, evidenced by the two-decade delay in its construction, and remarkable community resilience, demonstrated by its eventual establishment as a school of acknowledged excellence. It stands as a powerful symbol of the struggle for education within a segregated society.
By 1900, the educational landscape of Pocahontas County was unrecognizable from what it had been in 1800. The ad-hoc network of log cabin schools had been replaced by a formal system of public one-room schools, high schools, and specialized institutions for African American children. The role of the teacher had begun its long transition from an informal community duty to a certified profession. The 19th century, with all its progress and contradictions, laid the complex and challenging foundation upon which the county's modern educational system would be built.
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