Agenda - 12-15-1998 - 8s - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

(1) Old White Oak Grove School nominated for national register By RJ. Beatty The News of Orange County The story of the White Oak Grove School began, as with so many remarkable occurrences, not by choice, but by necessity. Back in 1927, 50 families in the Carr community of Cedar Grove came together to discuss prospects for a new school in the area. At the time, the only school for the predominantly black community was the Haith School, across Highway 49 in the extreme northwestern tip of Orange County — miles away from some of the children's homes. Though the children would still have to walk to a new school, a more central loca- tion was sorely needed. With land donated by local farmer and businessman Doc Burry Corbett, lumber furnished and hauled by community citizens, a S50 donation by Superintendent R. Clayton "for desks and other equipment," and a deep inner de- termination and collective iron will, the Parents - Teachers League was organized and White Oak Grove School was born. From its opening on Oct. 17, 1927 to its closing in the late 1940s, when the county consolidated all the community schools into the new Cedar Grove School on Highway 86, White Oak Grove served as a central gathering place for the black community, a manifestation of goodwill by the. parents of Cedar Grove. Fifty years later, their children came together to ensure that the lessons they learned should not be forgotten by the next generation. The children were grown now, seated together in quiet determina- tion at the meeting of the Orange County Historic Preservation Commission last Wednesday, Oct. 28. The commission met that night to discuss the presentation of the White Oak Grove School to the National Register Advisory Com- mittee — the board that assesses a site's eligibility for the National Register of Historic Places. Tom Allison, chair of the His- toric Preservation Commission, told the audience that the NRAC had determined the White Oak Grove School to be potentially eli- gible for the National Register. It was the Historic Preservation Commission's job, said Allison, to prepare a written research report evaluating the school's history as a formal nomination document. To _ The White Oak Grove School, Carr Store Road. RJ. Beagrl7ie Newi of Orange County this end, a motion was passed to tee, with ties to the school and sur- hire a consultant to make the pre- At this point Iris Thompson - sentation to the Advisory Commit- _ Chapman, a Cedar Grove resident - See Schools, Page 2A