Schools and Churches

Schools and Churches. . , Two Rockingham County Schools and Three Churches were Located Inside the Shenandoah National Park Boundary, Dean Mountain and Sunnyside were mountain schools operated by the Rockingham County Public School System; both schools were closed at the end of the 1932-33 session. A year later, the Dean Mountain and Sunnyside school properties, along with the properties of residents whose land was condemned for the purpose of establishing Shenandoah National Park, were ceded to the Federal government by the state of Virginia. Many of Rockingham's mountain children attended schools located just outside of the park boundary. These schools included Roadside, Sandy Bottom, Swift Run, Mt. Pleasant, Maple Springs, Rocky Bar, and the Episcopal Mission School St. Stephens at Rocky Bar., One-room school dynamics resulted in older children often helping the younger ones with their lessons. In addition, many children, especially those with older siblings, advanced past their grade levels as they heard the lessons taught to the older children. Delbert Wood, who attended the Roadside school recalled, "Discipline was not usually a problem for the teachers, because if you were disciplined at school, you were also disciplined at home." Many of the social events centered around schools including large participation by parents, which demonstrated the importance of education in the community. , The Dean Mountain property was deeded to the Stonewall District School Board on November 19, 1881, by Solomon Dean and wife and the school opened for the 1881-82 school session. The original building at Dean Mountain burned in February of 1917 and was rebuilt to open for the 1918-19 school session. The Dean Mountain School, particularly during the last fifteen years of its existence, had difficulty maintaining a legal number of students and was closed for many sessions. , The Sunnyside School was located near the top of the Blue Ridge Mountain at Swift Run Gap, about a half mile south of what is now the intersection of U.S. Route 33 and the Skyline Drive. The property for the Sunnyside School was deeded to the Stonewall District School Board by Thomas Hensley and wife on February 20, 1890, and the school was first opened for the 1890-91 school session., Churches provided opportunities for mountain families to gather for social occasions and special events. The Pentecostal Holiness Church in Sandy Bottom, the Fern Hill Methodist and the United Brethren in Swift Run were the only churches located inside the Rockingham County section of the park. The Dean Mountain School also served as a church. This was often the situation as mountain schools and churches provided dual roles in their communities. , Many of the northern Rockingham County mountain residents attended the "Hensley" Methodist Church located just beyond the park boundary in Thoroughfare. Other churches existed just outside the park including the Mt. Pleasant Methodist Church and the United Brethren Mt. Hebron Church which was located in Beldor. Mountain residents of the Simmons Gap and Rocky Bar areas attended the Episcopal St. Stephens Church, and the Port Republic area mountain families attended Episcopal Grace Memorial Church, near Lynwood. Many family burial pots, and even large cemeteries, can still be discovered under the falling trees, underbrush, and leaf covered field stone grave markers. The Dean Mountain Cemetery was still being utilized at the date of this memorial., The Swift Run United Brethren Church was located along the western slope of the Swift Run Mountain, near Spotswood Trail and the western park boundary. The United Brethren Church served both the park residents and the neighboring Swift Run community, which was located outside the park., The Fern Hill Church operated from 1919 to 1937 and was located just west of the park entrance station at Swift Run Gap. Fern Hill had 107 members in 1926. It served both Rockingham and Greene Counties as well as surrounding communities such as Fern Hill, the southern section of the Dean Mountain community, Saddleback, and areas of Hightop. Rev. Stephen Hensley and his wife Harriet (photo on left) served the Thoroughfare "Hensley" Methodist Church and also preached at the Dean Mountain School.