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<br /> NPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No.1024-0018
<br /> (8-86)
<br /> United States Department of the Interior
<br /> National Park Service
<br /> National Register of Historic Places
<br /> Continuation Sheet
<br /> Section number 8 Page 14 Ridge Road School
<br /> Orange County, NC
<br /> School campus became Central Elementary School, from which Ruth retired in the late 1970s at the
<br /> culmination of a thirty-eight-year career in the Orange County School system.27
<br /> Alethea Burt and Ruth Torian were respected leaders with deep community connections. As they
<br /> attended church services,joined civic organizations, and frequented local businesses, they built
<br /> relationships that contributed to a nurturing school environment in which students were inspired to
<br /> achieve and held to high standards. Their pedagogical approach facilitated development of academic,
<br /> leadership, and teamwork skills and fostered personal growth, thus empowering youth to pursue higher
<br /> education and realize community uplift. Alethea and Moses Burt attended Mount Bright Baptist Church
<br /> in Hillsboro and facilitated formation of 4-H clubs, the youth development program of the U. S.
<br /> Department of Agriculture administered by the Cooperative Extension Service. Ruth and Charlie Torian
<br /> were members of the nearby Mount Zion AME Church, where Ruth served on laity, Sunday school, and
<br /> Women's Missionary Society boards. She also held leadership positions including Worthy Matron
<br /> (presiding female officer) of the Order of the Eastern Star, a fraternal organization open to Masons and
<br /> their female relatives.28 Louis K. Watkins credits his experiences as a student at Ridge Road and Central
<br /> High schools and working on his family's farm with imbuing him with a strong work ethic that served
<br /> him well during his thirty-five-year career as a plant manager, quality control technician, and salesman for
<br /> Burlington Chemical Company.29
<br /> Ridge Road School continued to serve as a community gathering place through the 1970s, hosting civic
<br /> meetings and educational programs. An Efland-based group held sewing classes and an American Legion
<br /> chapter regularly met in the building. Walter and Maggie Torian's heirs conveyed the property to Jones
<br /> Grove Missionary Baptist Church, which still owns the school and is seeking funding to execute
<br /> necessary repairs.30
<br /> Architectural Context: Early-twentieth-century Orange County Public Schools
<br /> Although form and finish varies, many rural early-twentieth-century North Carolina public schools were
<br /> one-story, gable and hip-roofed, frame, one- or two-room buildings simply executed in an economical
<br /> manner that allowed for rapid construction, flexible use, and future expansion. Schools were efficiently
<br /> 27 OCBE meeting minutes, September 4, 1951,August 4, 1952;Lefler and Wager,Orange County, 141;Kim Ring
<br /> Darnofall,"Alethea Burt,"News of Orange,February 23, 1978,p. 3B;"Ruth M.Torian,"Durham Sun,February 22, 1989,p.
<br /> C2.
<br /> 28 The name 4-H references the appearance of the letter H four times in the organization's original motto"head,heart,
<br /> hands,and health." "Ruth M. Torian,"Durham Sun,February 22, 1989,p. C2;Kim Ring Darnofall,"Alethea Burt,"News of
<br /> Orange,February 23, 1978,p. 3B;Althea A.Burt,News and Observer,October 13, 1986,p. 3C.
<br /> 29 Louis K.Watkins,telephone conversation with Heather Fearnbach,February 25,2023.
<br /> 30 Virginia Watkins,telephone conversation with Heather Fearnbach,December 7,2022;Orange County Deed Book
<br /> 879,p. 315;Deed Book 2345,pp.256,259;Plat Book 54,p. 194;Plat Book 81,p. 108.
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