Rockby Marker

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Near Sparta in Hancock County, Georgia — The American South (South Atlantic)

Rockby
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By David Seibert, October 28, 2009

1. Rockby Marker

Inscription. About 1 mi. from here, Richard Malcolm Johnston, lawyer, educator, and author, operated Rockby, a school for boys revolutionary in its day. Disgusted with the harsh disciplinary methods of the time, Johnston instituted an honor system whereby students were expected to report their own misdemeanors. His system of discipline, “at once so liberal and so exacting,” worked remarkably well, and Rockby enjoyed wide patronage. Opened in Jan., 1862, the school prospered until after the Civil War.

Johnston left Ga. in 1867 under the social and financial pressures of Reconstruction and reopened his school as Pen Lucy School in Baltimore, Md. Forty Ga. boys followed their teacher to Md. and Pen Lucy continued in the Rockby tradition for about six years. Financial distress in Ga. later curtailed Johnston’s main supply of boarding pupils, and, finding his honor system less effective when applied to day pupils with whom the teacher had limited contact, he finally closed the school.

Johnston’s best-known literary work, Dukesborough Tales, was inspired by his own experiences. In his autobiography he identified Powelton, Hancock County, Ga., as “Dukesborough.”

Erected 1963 by Georgia Historical Commission. (Marker Number 070-11.)

Location.

By David Seibert, October 28, 2009

2. Rockby Marker

Looking east on Ga Highway 16, toward Warrenton and Augusta

33° 17.463′ N, 82° 56.299′ W. Marker is near Sparta, Georgia, in Hancock County. Marker is on Augusta Highway (Georgia Route 16 at Mile Marker 15), 0.1 miles west of Duggan Road, on the right when traveling east. Click for map. Marker is in this post office area: Sparta GA 31087, United States of America.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 8 miles of this marker, as the crow flies. Sparta (approx. 2.2 miles away); Sparta Cemetery (approx. 2.2 miles away); Old Eagle Tavern (approx. 2.4 miles away); Hancock County (approx. 2.4 miles away); Nathan S.S. Beman at Mt. Zion (approx. 5.9 miles away); Gov. William Rabun (approx. 6 miles away); Gov. William Jonathan Northen (approx. 6.3 miles away); Camilla and Zack Hubert Homesite (approx. 7.7 miles away). Click for a list of all markers in Sparta.

Also see . . . The New Georgia Encyclopedia biography of Richard Malcolm Johnston. (Submitted on November 6, 2009, by David Seibert of Sandy Springs, Georgia.)