Burwell School Historic Site

Burwell School Historic Site. . The Reverend Robert Burwell, his wife Anna, and their two children moved from Virginia to Hillsborough in 1835. The Presbyterians, who hired him as their minister, provided the family with a house which was built around 1821 on the corner of Union and Churton Streets. To supplement the household income, Anna Burwell responded to Dr. James Webb's request for help with his daughter's education by opening the Burwell home as a school for girls in 1837. Within a few years the school had become a boarding school and was attracting students from all over the South. From 1837 to 1857 as many as forty enslaved people and free blacks supplied the labor necessary to run the Burwell School and care for the Burwell family and their students. Burwell scholars studied reading, writing, mathematics, science and history as well as music and drawing. In 1848, Rev. Burwell resigned his ministry so that he could devote more time to administering school affairs. He then purchased the property from the Presbyterian Church and hired John Berry to renovate and enlarge the house. By 1857, the Burwells had educated over two hundred young women. In that year, they closed their school and became directors of the Charlotte Female Academy in Charlotte, North Carolina (now Queens University). Anna Burwell died in Charlotte in 1871. Robert Burwell then moved to Raleigh to run Peace Institute (now William Peace University). He died in 1895. , The Burwell School after 1857 , When the Burwells left, they sold their school to the Collins family, the owners of Somerset Place Plantation in Washington County. They purchased the property to provide their extended family and enslaved servants a place of refuge behind the Confederate lines. They called their new home “The Beehive” because there were so many people living there. IN 1869, the Orange County sheriff sold the buildings and grounds to settle the debts of Dr. Thomas Warren, who had married into the Collins family. In 1895 Charles M. Parks sold the property to Dr. John Spurgeon, a dentist. He and his wife Carrie, an avid gardener and excellent cook, reared their six children while living in the house. In the 1960s the Historic Hillsborough Commission, under the leadership of Mary Claire Engstrom purchased the house and turned it into an historic site. , Those who worked at The Burwell School , Enslaved and free people worked at The Burwell School. The most famous person to work at the school was Elizabeth Hobbs Keckly. Her autobiography, Behind the Scenes or, Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House, describes how she bought her freedom, moved to Washington, D.C., and became Mary Lincoln's dressmaker. Joseph Nichols, Job Berry, and other enslaved Black craftsmen working for John Berry renovated the house and school in the 1840s. Free Black workers included Eliza Chavious (Chavis), a laundress; Patsy Freeman, a nurse; and Umstead Mayo, who was a maintenance man and personal servant to Rev. Burwell. Enslaved workers included Hannah, a cook; Julia, who did the sewing; and Mary Ann, who served as housekeeper. , Among the teachers were Antonio de Martino, an immigrant from Italy, who taught music. Sarah Kollock, a former Burwell student, taught French and drawing before she helped found the Nash and Kollock School in Hillsborough. , [Captions (left to right)] , . Rev. Robert Burwell, 1802-1895 , . Anna Burwell, 1810-1871 , . Elizabeth Hobbs Keckly, 1818-1907 , . Burwell student Susan (Suny) Webb, 1831-1905 - founded Alameda Schoolhouse