The Pleasant Green Methodist Episcopal Church and the adjacent Seebert Lane Colored School (also known as the Pleasant Green School or Hillsboro Colored School) represent the heart of a once-thriving post-Civil War African American community in Pocahontas County, West Virginia.
Located along Seebert Road (Route 27) near the Greenbrier River between Seebert and Hillsboro, they stand today as the only surviving physical structures from this historic Black Appalachian settlement.
Key Historical Milestones
- Community Roots (Post-Civil War): Following the Civil War and the expansion of the regional timber and railroad industries, African American families—some descendants of enslaved individuals from Greenbrier Valley estates, others arriving for industrial labor—established small farming settlements in the Little Levels district.
- Establishment of the Church (1888): Land was purchased in 1888 specifically to serve as a church and school for the local Black population. Built in a modest Gothic Revival style by the congregation using salvaged and local materials, the church featured amber-tinted "rootbeer glass" window panes and a bell cast in 1842. It initially doubled as the community's primary schoolhouse.
- Dedicated Schoolhouse (c. 1898): As the school-age population grew, local builder Robert Samuel Jordan constructed a separate, dedicated one-room frame schoolhouse nearby around 1898. The 24-by-40-foot building featured a central belfry/cupola, a covered entrance porch, and twin cloakrooms. A single Black teacher taught grades 1 through 8 concurrently.
- Lewis Hine Photographic Survey (1921): Famed social documentary photographer Lewis Hine visited Seebert Lane Colored School while documenting rural education and child welfare for the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC). His photographs captured the students and their teacher in the classroom, preserving a rare visual record of segregated Appalachian schooling.
- Desegregation and Closure (1954–1976): Following the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954, Pocahontas County began integrating its public school system, and the Seebert Lane school ceased operations. The church continued holding services and community gatherings until membership gradually dispersed, leading to its dissolution around 1976.
Site Overview
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Location | Seebert Rd (County Route 27) near US-219, Pocahontas County, WV |
| School Architecture | Front-gable, one-story wood-frame building with cupola, fuel shed, and double cloakrooms |
| Church Architecture | Simple Gothic Revival wood frame with amber textured glass and historic bell tower |
| Cemetery | Located behind the church; contains the graves of prominent local African American figures |
| Historic Status | Both buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places in December 2012 |
Recent restoration initiatives—spearheaded by the Pocahontas County Landmarks Commission, Preservation Alliance of West Virginia, and AmeriCorps volunteers—have helped repair structural wear, reglaze historic windows, and preserve the grounds for historical education
In October 1921, investigative photographer and sociologist Lewis Wickes Hine traveled through rural West Virginia on assignment for the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC). While best known for exposing child labor in coal breakers, glass factories, and textile mills, Hine was also tasked with documenting rural education, school attendance, and the disparities in facilities provided to children across the state.
During his sweep through Pocahontas County, Hine visited the Seebert Lane Colored School. His photographs and field notes from that stop became critical primary-source evidence of Jim Crow-era rural schooling in central Appalachia.
What the 1921 Records Document
- Interior Conditions & Multigrade Instruction: Hine’s photographs captured the single, open classroom with students of widely varying ages seated in wooden desks and benches. The images documented the reality of one-room rural education, where a single African American teacher instructed grades 1 through 8 simultaneously.
- Material Disparities & Self-Reliance: The visual record shows the modest fixtures of the school—a central stove for wood/coal heating, slate blackboards, basic natural-finish woodwork, and sawn-lath plaster walls. It documented how the local Black community maintained functional learning spaces despite receiving only a fraction of public school funding compared to white districts.
- Attendance vs. Agricultural Labor: As part of the NCLC’s mandate, Hine’s fieldwork investigated how seasonal farm labor, harsh weather, and mountain terrain impacted regular attendance. His notes detailed student counts and seasonal fluctuations when older children were pulled from class for harvest or chores.
- Archival Portrait of Black Appalachian Youth: Beyond serving as sociological data, Hine’s portraits provided a rare visual record of rural African American children in early-20th-century Pocahontas County, preserving individual expressions, clothing, and daily school life.
Archival Preservation
The original glass plate negatives, prints, and field notes from Hine’s 1921 West Virginia survey are preserved in the National Child Labor Committee Collection at the Library of Congress (Prints and Photographs Division).
When the Seebert Lane Colored School was nominated to the National Register of Historic Places in 2012, Hine’s 1921 photographic documentation served as primary architectural and historical evidence, proving the integrity of the interior layout and establishing the school's continuous role in early 20th-century Appalachian education.
Both the Pleasant Green Methodist Episcopal Church and the Seebert Lane Colored School remain standing in their original locations along Seebert Road (County Route 27), maintaining their protected status on the National Register of Historic Places.
Current Status and Stewardship
- Preservation Status: Both properties have held active listings on the National Register since December 12, 2012. They are recognized under Criterion A for their ethnic heritage and educational significance, representing the only surviving architectural footprint of the historic Seebert Lane African American community.
- Ownership & Stewardship: The church and school parcels have historically been held under the stewardship of the regional United Methodist Church Conference (Greenbrier Conference), with local historic advocacy, maintenance monitoring, and documentation supported by the Pocahontas County Historic Landmarks Commission and the Pocahontas County Historical Society.
- Structural Condition: Both buildings remain structurally intact with remarkably high architectural integrity:
- Schoolhouse: Retains its original front-gable footprint, small round-column entrance porch, exterior fuel shed, and rooftop belfry/cupola.
- Church: Retains its Gothic-arched windows with amber textured glass, historic bell tower, original wood framing, and the adjacent historic cemetery on the rear hillside.
- Site Use: Neither building is in active daily educational or regular ecclesiastical use. They function primarily as preserved historic landmarks, occasionally visited by local heritage tours, historians, and descendants. Ongoing preservation efforts focus on stabilizing the exterior envelopes (roofing, window reglazing, foundation monitoring) through historic preservation planning grants and volunteer support.
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