Old Cabin Branch / Clarkson School

Old Cabin Branch, also, Clarkson School. . Free African Americans were present in Prince William County as early as the mid-eighteenth century. After the Civil War, emancipated slaves joined other African American families in a growing community near Cabin Branch. Batestown, as it became known, was located on the eastern side of what is now Prince William Forest Park. Education was highly valued among the families of Batestown as evidenced by the number of children who had to walk many miles daily to attend school. The Cabin Branch School, also known as Clarkson School, was established in 1889 on Mine Road to accommodate the local African American children. A larger, one room schoolhouse was built in 1916 on the west side of Mine Road, adjacent to the Little Union Baptist Church, and less than one half mile south of the original school site. The new school continued to serve Batestown children until 1950 when the Washington-Reid Elementary School opened on Dumfries Road.