Agenda 10-03-23; 4-b - National Register Recommendation for Ridge Road School

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9 NPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No.1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 7 Page 3 Ridge Road School Orange County, NC Education recommended nine-over-nine sash windows approximately seven feet, seven inches tall. The Jones Grove Missionary Baptist Church congregation installed the particle-board panels that cover the windows from the exterior to deter vandals. The school rests on brick piers and is sheltered by a 5V-crimp metal-panel roof. A tall, square, brick interior chimney with a corbelled stack pierces the west roof slope. Exposed rafter ends support deep eaves. Although much of the siding is in good, albeit weathered, condition, a few boards are missing on each elevation. The original siding color appears to have been white. The building was not insulated. Interior The substantially intact interior is characterized by painted beadboard-sheathed walls and ceilings, narrow-board wood floors, flat-board window and door surrounds, and single-leaf five-horizontal-panel doors. The ceilings and upper portions of the walls are painted white, while the approximately three-foot- tall lower portions of each wall are painted dark brown to emulate wainscoting. The interior window and door surrounds and doors are also painted dark brown. The wide opening in the central partition wall contains a beadboard panel that slides up into the wall cavity. The blackboard that was mounted on the sliding panel's south face has been removed, as have large black and bulletin boards on the south room's south and east walls. Black-and-bulletin-board size is indicated by unpainted areas of wall sheathing.5 The status of these features in the north classroom is unknown,but they were likely removed when the walls were covered with faux-wood paneling in the 1970s. Wood-burning metal stoves with round flues project at an angle from the chimney abutting the west elevation's center into each classroom. In the north room, a piano occupies the east end of the stage that spans the north wall. Some metal-frame school desks remain in the room along with simple wood pews from the 1928 Jones Grove Missionary Baptist Church. The shed rooms retain single-leaf five-horizontal-panel doors. In the south room, which functioned as a kitchen, wall and ceiling beadboard is painted pale green. Cabinets with vertical-board-and-batten doors span the south and west walls. The base cabinets have wood countertops. As there was no plumbing, water for meal preparation, washing, and drinking was procured from a well on Walter and Maggie Torian's farm to the south. In the north shed room, a coat closet, three wall-mounted single-board shelves span the south wall. The warped plywood shelves on the north wall were likely added in the 1970s. White-painted beadboard sheathes the walls and ceiling. 5 The only historic photograph of the interior that has been located shows students adding items to a bulletin board. "Classroom Procedures Take on Newer Trends in Orange Negro Schools,"News of Orange,April 18, 1951.