Willow Hill School and Community

Photographed by David Seibert, June 17, 2014

1. Willow Hill School and Community Marker

Inscription. In 1874, nine years after the Civil War ended, a group of former slaves of the Riggs, Donaldson, Parrish, and Hall families founded the Willow Hill School to serve the area’s black children. Georgia Ann Riggs, age 15 and a former slave, was the first teacher. Class was held in an old turpentine shanty. Willow Hill School, one of 15 family-operated black schools in Bulloch County, became the center of a community of successful land-owning black Americans. In the first half of the 20th century, the Rosenwald Fund helped pay for construction and the Jeanes Fund helped train faculty.

In 1920 the Bulloch County Board of Education purchased the school for $18 dollars. In 1954 the county built the sixth and current building to house the school (.5 miles SW). Children attended an integrated facility beginning in 1970. When closed in 1999, Willow Hill had been a school for 125 years – the county’s oldest. In 2005, descendants of the founders bought the school building for $113,000 and the Willow Hill Heritage and Renaissance Center seeks to preserve the legacy of those former slaves who built a community and nourished the school.

Erected by the

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Bulloch County Historical Society, supported by the Jack N. & Addie D. Averitt Foundation.

Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: African Americans • Education. In addition, it is included in the Rosenwald Schools series list. A significant historical year for this entry is 1874.

Location. Marker has been permanently removed. It was located near 32° 30.954′ N, 81° 53.496′ W. Marker was in Portal, Georgia, in Bulloch County. It was at the intersection of U.S. 80 and Willow Hill Road, on the right when traveling east on U.S. 80. Touch for map. Marker was in this post office area: Portal GA 30450, United States of America.

We have been informed that this marker is no longer there and will not be replaced. This page is an archival view of what was.

Regionally, this marker was in Georgia’s Coastal Plain. It was also in the American South

and specifically in the Deep South.

Globally, it was in the North Atlantic Region,

North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it found itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture,

Photographed by David Seibert, June 17, 2014

2. Willow Hill School and Community Marker

Willow Hill Road is in the background

one of the original Thirteen Colonies,

one of the Confederate States of America,

and the Antebellum South.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 7 miles of this location, measured as the crow flies: Willow Hill Elementary School for Negroes (approx. 0.4 miles away); Dr. James A. Stewart House (approx. 2.8 miles away); Old Portal (approx. 3 miles away); Banks Dairy Farm (approx. 3½ miles away); Akins’ Mill Pond / The Families of Akins’ Mill Pond (approx. 4½ miles away); Upper Lotts Creek Primitive Baptist Church and Cemetery (approx. 5.1 miles away); Rigdon’s Mill / The Rigdon Cemetery (approx. 6.8 miles away); Skirmish at Statesboro (approx. 6.9 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Portal.

More about this marker. The Bulloch County Historical Society reports the marker has been damaged for a third time and will not be replaced (07/18/24).

Photographed by David Seibert, June 17, 2014

3. Willow Hill School and Community Marker

US 80 is on the left; Willow Hill Road on the right

Credits. This page was last revised on July 18, 2024. It was originally submitted on August 30, 2017, by David Seibert of Sandy Springs, Georgia. This page has been viewed 676 times since then and 44 times this year. Last updated on July 17, 2024, by Rodney J. Harville of Statesboro, Georgia. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on August 30, 2017, by David Seibert of Sandy Springs, Georgia. • Bernard Fisher was the editor who published this page.