Threatened: Gullah-Geechee Schoolhouse
By Sarah Marloff | Online Only | Oct. 26, 2010
The Harrington School on St. Simons Island, Ga., has been granted another two-year lease on life. Built in the 1920s, the one-room schoolhouse served as the primary grade school for the African American communities on the island. Today, it is the last remaining link on St. Simons to the Gullah-Geechee African American subculture of both Georgia and South Carolina's islands.
The Harrington School may have been torn down five years ago. However, Glynn County and the St. Simons Land Trust purchased the school in 2005, saving it from developers. The St. Simon's African American Heritage Coalition then requested a lease for the property in order to restore the deteriorating wood structure. However, Glynn County requested that they first "fix it up," says Patty Deveau, board member of the Coast Georgia Historical Society and president of the Friends of Harrington School Inc. "But they couldn't raise enough money to do so." A year ago a committee which had originally been working to restore the school put forth a request to tear it down. "I think it had a lot to do with the frustration of not being able to raise the money," says Deveau, who requested a second opinion on the building's condition. In February, Ellen Harris and Cullen Chambers, members of the Historic Preservation Technical Advisory Committee of Georgia's Coastal Regional Commission, determined that the school could be restored. "The building is so solid, it could float," Deveau says.
Harrington, considered an undocumented Rosenwald School, was built using local lumber, making the schoolhouse not only unique but sturdy. "In fact, it was overbuilt," says Jordan H. Poole, manager of field services at the Georgia Trust Historic Preservation. "It's why the building has lasted so long. The roof and rafters are still in great condition." Hoping to attract attention to the building and spur its restoration, the Georgia Trust last week announced that the Harrington School is one of this year's Places in Peril.
So far, several groups are working together to save and restore the Harrington School, including the Georgia Trust and the St. Simon's African American Heritage Coalition. According to Deveau, once they get the lease—which is currently being drafted—the coalition will have two years to raise the money and restore the property. The National Trust for Historic Preservation has awarded the project a $1,000 matching grant. "It won't take much to restore it," Poole says. "The hard part is getting all these i's dotted and t's crossed. But I'm pretty sure it's not going to be torn down."
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Comments
Submitted by Tomas at: October 26, 2010
This is a great opportunity to save one of the remaining vestiges of Geechee-Gullah history in the area. In July I saw an excellent restoration of an African American one-room schoolhouse in Smithfield, VA.
Submitted by chip at: October 26, 2010
I would like to engage to assist in saving this school. I am on a Board for a foundation that has preserved the Shiloh Baptist Church and Rosenwald school in the Alabama Black Belt. http://shilohcommfound.com/school.html Please contact me at chip.burson@gmail.com I am a SSI native. I know how to make this happen. Thanks.