1890's Davidson Schoolhouse

1890's Davidson Schoolhouse. . The Davidson Schoolhouse, named after the Davidson family, was built in the 1890's to serve the school children in the local community around Rural Hill and northwestern Mecklenburg County. Most of the children walked or rode together in wagons to the schoolhouse. Students of all ages learned in the same environment. Often, the older students would assist in the instruction of younger peers. Also, during crop harvesting it was typical for many students to skip the school day due to their mounting duties on the family farm., In the 1890's schooling differed from today. School sessions met from 9am to 1pm, and included learning the R's: Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic. This also included a period for lunch and recess. All grades studied together in the same room with the boys on one side of the room, and the girls on the other. The teacher would sometimes live on a farm, rent a room, or stay in the town., The Davidson Schoolhouse operated from 1890 to 1912 when the children moved into a larger two room, structure built the adjacent pavilion area., The new schoolhouse served all grades until 1923 when the children were then moved to the larger Long Creek Consolidated School. The old schoolhouse was then used to serve African-American children until they, too, were sent to Long Creek. The picnic pavilion has been built in its footprint. During this time the Davidson Schoolhouse served as a tenant house and then for hay storage., The Davidson School is now used as a site of educational programming by Historic Rurad Hill. Here students from area schools come and learn for a day using only methods and materials that they would have had in the early 1900s.