Beckwith School

Beckwith School. . Many of the Waldensians who came to America in 1893 were educated in one of the Beckwith schools. These were established throughout the Valleys in the 1800's by a great friend and benefactor of the Waldensians from England., General John Charles Beckwith was a Canadian officer in the British army, an aide to General Wellington in the defeat of Napolean at Waterloo. Wounds from that battle, however, ended Beckwith's military career, leaving him, at age 26, a retired man with a wooden leg. While visiting Wellington some years later, Beckwith providentially came across a book about the Waldensians retaking their valleys by force, the 'Glorious Return' of 1689. He found their story so intriguing that he made a visit to the valleys. While there, he fell in love and married a Waldensian lady. Beckwith lived out the rest of his life in the valleys until his death some 30 years later., Shortly after arriving in the Valleys, he noticed that the Waldensians did not attend public schools, due to not being citizens of the land. Using his own wealth, he began to build schools in each of the Waldensian villages, giving every child in the valleys an opportunity to attend school. Eventually, he was responsible for constructing approximately 165 of these one-room schoolhouses and providing teachers where needed., The school seen here is an exact replica of one of the Beckwith schools. The flag and the book bag inside were received as a donation to the Trail from one of the schools in the valleys.