The Barrel Landing Schoolhouse

The Barrel Landing Schoolhouse. . The name Barrel Landing (also spelled Barrell) comes from a nearby docking and landing area on the Okatie River initially used by early settlers of the Okatie community in the period following the Revolutionary War. Farmers and tradesmen used the landing to load produce packed in barrels aboard river craft to transport them to larger ports such as Beaufort, Savannah and Charleston, The original Barrel Landing School was built in the 1800s prior to the Civil War, but was destroyed by fire in the late 1800s. A new school was built and reportedly suffered damage from both a fire and a hurricane earlier this century. At one time, there were four one-room schoolhouses in the area - three along the historic roadway that is now S.C. 170. When a central school was built in the Town of Bluffton in 1919, the Barrel Landing School closed it's doors to students and was converted into a community center., All official written records of the schoolhouses have been lost, but former students of the Okatie community recall many aspects of the old schoolhouse. Teachers often boarded with families and either walked or traveled by horse and buggy to get to school. Students in grades 1-8 sat at homemade tables and benches facing the teacher's large oak desk. A pot belly stove provided heat and wall lanterns were used since there was no electricity. A built in bench that circled the schoolroom on three sides still survives. A large wooden log served as the front steps for the school.