Henderson County Education History Initiative

08/26/2026

"Schools Gone By": Brickton Black School, Brittain's School, Bunker Hill School

The Brickton Black School, pictured here, was a two-room school located near Butler Bridge, erected around 1930. The school was closed in 1952.

We have little to no information about the following two schools:
Brittain’s School was also known as Union Hill School and was a feeder school to Dana Graded School.

In Bill Barnwell’s "Early Buncombe-Henderson County Educational Time Line" for the Henderson County Genealogical & Historical Society in 2018, he notes a Bunker Hill School around the year 1852, but that is the only reference we have found to that school.

08/19/2026

"Schools Gone By:" Boylston, Bowen Hill, Bowman's Bluff Black School

The Boylston (also spelled Boilston) School (pictured here) was located on Hwy 280 beside Boylston Baptist Church Cemetery. It served as a feeder school to Mills River Graded School.

Bowen Hill School was a private school in the 1880s taught by Miss Diana Bowen in her old home, The Cedars Annex.

There is evidence of a Bowman’s Bluff Black School, but we have no information about it. Reminder: Throughout this series, if anyone has information or records from an old school, please share it with the HCEHI Preservation Room.

08/12/2026

More schools that started with "B" for our "Schools Gone By" series.

Not much is known except the name of the Blythe Street School. It can be assumed that it was on Blythe Street.

The Bob’s Creek School was located on Gap Creek (Bob’s Creek) Road in 1870 and was a feeder school to Tuxedo Graded School.

The Boiling Springs School existed from 1874-1926 and served as a feeder school to Fletcher Graded School. The picture shows an example of the notes that Evelyn Sizemore took on each school that are kept in the Preservation Room. Some schools (like Blythe Street School) are an empty folder, but we hope to one day have information about every school that ever existed in Henderson County.

08/06/2026

08/05/2026

Next up for "Schools Gone By" is the Blue Ridge School for Boys. The Blue Ridge School for Boys opened as a boarding college preparatory school in 1914 on the Chimney Rock Road, near where the present day Blue Ridge Mall is. Students that took at least sixteen college entrance units were awarded a diploma.

Check out this digitized copy of the 1942 yearbook from the school! https://lib.digitalnc.org/record/252735?ln=en&v=uv #?xywh=-534%2C0%2C6653%2C4506&cv=15

07/29/2026

"Schools Gone By": Blantyre and Blue House

The first Blantyre School was built prior to 1900 along the Henderson County and Transylvania County line. The second school was built in 1911. In 1917, the principal at the time, J.L. Osteen, was drafted to the Army and trained at Camp Jackson. He served overseas during WWI. Osteen would later serve as a state senator.

Leander Case built a small school in 1856 known as The Blue House (2nd picture). The school likely closed when Leander joined the Confederate Army in 1861. In 1866, J.J. Blythe began teaching in the house, and the school became known as the Blue Ridge Academy and existed until 1903.

07/22/2026

"Schools Gone By:" Bearwallow and Big Willow

Bearwallow School, also known as Hickory School and Gerton School, was built before the Civil War on the property of T.R. and Luetta Connor’s house. As of 2022, the original school was part of the house that is there now. The school is believed to have closed in the mid-1920s.

The first Big Willow School was a one room log cabin with homemade seats. The second school was a two room frame building with better furniture. In 1905, the third school opened on Patterson Road between Etowah and Hendersonville with a chapel and three recitation rooms. In 1934, the school and property were sold for $100. The photograph is of students at Big Willow School.

07/15/2026

Up next in "Schools Gone By:" Barnwell and Bat Cave Schools

The Barnwell School was previously called Clear Creek School, and the first school building existed from 1849-1881. In 1881, the second school building was built on a knoll near the intersection of present day Grant Mountain and Fred Hudgins Roads. In 1924, the school consolidated with Edneyville Graded School.

In 1849, the school term for the year was 1 month and 16 days. In 1910, the school term was 4 months, and by 1920, the term was 6 months.

Another school that was a feeder to Edneyville was Bat Cave School. The first school was in existence from 1849-1881. The second school was built in 1881, and the third school (picture 1) opened in 1903 as a consolidation of Bat Cave, Gerton, and Middle Fork Schools. Finally, a fourth building (picture 2) was built in 1928 costing $10,500. It had 4 rooms with 3 teachers and 7 grades. In 1946, the school was sold to become the Valley Clinic and Hospital.

Fun Fact: In 1938, there was a contest to see which school could get the greatest percentage of enrolled students to register at City Hall. Bat Cave School won the $25 prize, with 66 students out of the 84 enrolled making it to City Hall to register even though they had to travel the farthest distance.

07/08/2026

"Schools Gone By"

The Preservation Room currently has no records relating to the Balfour Colored School, but there is evidence that a school by this name existed.

On the other hand, thanks to HCEHI volunteers that used to teach at Balfour Elementary, the Preservation Room has copious amounts of information related to Balfour Graded School/Elementary. In 1909, Balfour Graded School opened, and then in 1927 the new school building, designed by Erle Stilwell, opened off of Hwy. 25. For more information, check out the 2018 book "History of Balfour School: Past to Present." Many copies of this book are located in the Preservation Room.

07/01/2026

A few months ago, we shared information about each of the 23 current Henderson County Public Schools and how and when they were created.

We are now going to start a series called "Schools Gone By" that will talk about the over 100 schools that existed at some time in Henderson County that are no longer here. HCEHI volunteer Evelyn Sizemore has compiled folders and binders full of whatever information she could find about these schools. Some schools have more information than others; some we simply have the school's name. Throughout this series, we will share the names of these schools and some of the information we have about them. We encourage viewers to share with us any additional information you may have!

The first schools (in alphabetical order) are the Ace School, Adams Run School, and Antioch School.

Johnson and Callie Crawford HIll opened the Ace School in the early 1850s. In the early 1900s, the Ace School merged with the Mount Vernon School and was on the current Frank Hill Road.

The Adams Run School was originally a one-room school house located in the Big Hungry District in 1876. The builder was Adam Kiesler Hyder, and oral history says that the school got its name because when he was finished building, he threw down his hammer and ran home. The schools burned in 1921, and the second edition of the school was a two room school house that opened in 1922. T.D. McCall was the contractor. In 1929, the Henderson County Board of Public Education granted a request to transport students from Adams Run School to Dana High School. The picture is from Adams Run School in the early 1900s.

Not much is known about the Antioch School except that it was a feeder school to Valley Hill Graded School.