Ruralite Cafe: Published 10/11/01

By Lynn Hotaling - Associate Editor

Local schools read like children's alphabet book

Our county is presently home to a campus of the University of North Carolina, a community college, eight public schools (seven in the county school system and one charter school), and a couple of private schools. But when Jackson was created in 1851 from portions of Macon and Haywood counties, it had only one school, which was located in Qualla community.

During the intervening century and a half, some 95 schools - alphabetically from Addie to Zion Hill - have existed here.

As with the 80 or so post offices we learned about last spring, the names and dates of local schools make for interesting reading.

Turning to our current reference book of choice, "The History of Jackson County," published by the Jackson County Historical Association in 1987 and soon to be available again, we found enough information in "Appendix VI, Education" to merit several weeks worth of Cafe discourse.

The list of superintendents of schools reads like a "Who's Who" of early Jackson County. Names like Keener, Terrell, Hampton, Allison, Wike, Cathey, Henson, Cope, Buchanan and Cowan are familiar today. Joseph Keener, who took office in 1853 was the first of 39 to hold the title. We don't find early industrialist C.J. Harris, who funded construction of the Jackson County Courthouse and lent his name to the local hospital, but most other early leaders served a term or two.

Dillsboro founder William Allen Dills was superintendent in 1879, and Western Carolina University founder R.L. Madison held the job from 1919 until 1921. E.R. Hampton, superintendent in 1869, once owned most of the land where Sylva is now located; his daughter Mae gave the town its name when she insisted her father name the post office after his hired hand, a "wayfaring Dane" named William Demetrius Sylva.

Jackson County's former schools almost span the alphabet - we have names to match up with every letter except "I" and "X." To close this first chapter of Cafe school history, we'll list the names, in storybook order, and let them remind us of earlier times.

A is for Addie and Argura.

B is for Balsam, Balsam Grove, Barkers Creek, Bessie, Beta, Big Ridge, Blue Ridge, Board Castle, Brasstown and Bryson.

C is for Camp Lab, Canada, Cane Creek, Caney Fork, Cashiers, Charleys Creek, Clayton, Colored Consolidated, Cowarts, Cullowhee and Cullowhee Mountain.

D is for Dark Ridge, Deets, Dillsboro, Dix Creek and Double Springs.

E is for East Fork and East LaPorte.

F is for Fairfield and Fairview.

G is for Gay, Glenville, Green Mountain and Greens Creek.

H is for Hamburg and Happy Valley.

J is for Jackson Academy and Johns Creek.

K is for Kilgore.

L is for Liberty and Log Cabin.

M is for McKee Training and Moses Creek.

N is for Norton.

O is for Oak Hill, Olivet and Oscar.

P is for Pilot Cove, Pine Creek, Pisgah Forest and Pleasant Grove.

Q is for Qualla, Qualla High and Quallatown.

R is for River Hill, River View, Rock Bridge and Rocky Hollow.

S is for Sadie Mountain, Savannah, Scotts Creek, Shoal Creek, Smokey Mountain, Smoky Mountain, Soco, Sols Creek, Speedwell, Sylva, Sylva High and Sylva-Webster High.

T is for Tennessee (Tanassee) Gap and Tuckaseigee.

U is for Upper Barkers Creek.

V is for View Point.

W is for Wayehutta, Webster, Webster High, White Rock, Whiteside, Whittier, Willets, Wilmot and Wolf Creek.

Y is for Yellow Mountain.

Z is for Zion Hill.

Back to Archive: 10/11/01.