Schools in Pocahontas

 

Here is a summary of the names, locations, and fates of the historic rural schools we have discussed from the Pocahontas County records:

1. Wesley Chapel School

• Location: Situated on Wesley Chapel Road between Green Bank and Dunmore, about 300 yards down from the Wesley Chapel Church on Galford Creek.
• Fate: Closed its doors at the end of the 1945–1946 school term. The schoolhouse was later torn down by Troy Lusk, who repurposed the timber and materials to build a private home on the very same site.

2. Glade Hill School

• Location: Stood in the front yard of what later became the Albert Wilfong farm on Wesley Chapel Road (approximately 3 miles from Dunmore).
• Fate: Ceased operations in the late 1890s to be replaced by the Thorny Branch School. The old log building was briefly used as a residence by the Charles Wilfong family before being completely dismantled.

3. Thorny Branch School

• Location: Built about a quarter-mile west of Wesley Chapel Road, just downstream from the Lawrence Kelly house.
• Fate: Replaced by the Gum Springs and Wesley Chapel schools once its student enrollment ballooned to 48. The frame building was purchased and relocated up the hill by Sam Elliott, served as a home for Nola and Jack Taylor, and was eventually utilized as a granary.

4. Gum Springs School

• Location: Located on the Pete Oliver farm, roughly 3 miles from Dunmore.
• Fate: Built as a frame structure to help handle overflowing enrollment and a local typhoid outbreak; it was eventually closed and consolidated as neighborhood demographics shifted.

5. Hillside School

• Location: Situated on Wesley Chapel Road, about 1.5 miles east of Dunmore.
• Fate: Ran from 1902 until its final term in 1925–1926. The building was subsequently purchased by Garfield Grimes, and the vacant site eventually became overgrown with pines.

6. Old Oak Grove School

• Location: Located at the head of Rosin Run, about 3.5 miles from Green Bank.
• Fate: Abandoned in favor of a newer facility after serving the community for several decades (including hosting the early organization of the Wesley Chapel Church in 1894).

7. New Oak Grove School

• Location: Built on Sheets Road, about half a mile from Wesley Chapel Road.
• Fate: Officially closed at the conclusion of the 1941–1942 term when local student numbers dwindled to a point where operations were no longer viable.

8. The Curry School

• Location: Built on the Ellis Curry farm in the rugged hills east of Dunmore.
• Fate: Closed and consolidated into the larger district school system.

9. The Cross Roads School House

• Location: Situated below Green Bank on the Dunmore Road, at the intersection of Hill Road and Route 28.
• Fate: Completely destroyed by fire in the late 1880s or 1890s after it was suspected that a traveling tramp seeking shelter inside accidentally set the structure ablaze.

10. The Galford's Creek "Emergency" School

• Location: Located directly in front of the Wesley Chapel Church.
• Fate: Originally constructed as a general store in 1907, it was hastily converted into a temporary school for three terms (1908–1910) to isolate local children during a severe regional typhoid fever epidemic. It returned to non-school use once the epidemic subsided.

11. Poage Lane School

• Location: Located three miles west of Clover Lick on the road to Marlinton, on land donated by Quincy H. Poage.
• Fate: Consolidated into the town school system as transportation improved, leaving behind memories of students wading through four-foot snowdrifts to reach class.

12. Greenbrier Hill School

• Location: Marlinton.
• Fate: Operated as the largest school for Black students in Pocahontas County until school consolidation and integration efforts ultimately closed the facility.

13. Marlinton Graded & High School

• Location: Marlinton.
• Fate: The 1906 brick Graded School and the 1916 High School served as central educational pillars for decades. By the late 1976 school bond controversies, the aging facilities were heavily scrutinized for fire safety violations and eventually superseded by modern consolidated county schools.

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