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In the school days of the early schools, there were many small schools scattered about in the surrounding territory near Bettie.  One such school was a school called Rocky Point which was in operation about 1884.  It was located on the Johnny Johnson place, just north of  the road that runs in front of Johnny Richardson’s house.  The school ceased to exist about 1902.  L. A. Richardson and his wife, Vannie, were teaching there then. 

 

The higher grades went to Bettie, and the others went to a new location called Forest Hill.  It was a thickly forested area, and therefore so named.  School was held under a brush arbor until a schoolhouse could be built.  The new

building was located about 2 miles west of Rocky Point on Cherokee Trace.  When the building was finished, a dedication service was held. 

 

The school was close to Pa and Ma Reeve’s house and many of the teachers boarded there during the school terms.  Some of the teachers who taught at Forest Hill were Allie Stone, Ludie Tracie, Cerena Small, Cleora Floyd, Ruby Wells, Betty Taylor, Mavon Logsden, and others. 

 

About 1914, Forest Hill was moved to another location, about where the Duane Varner house now stands.  When they moved from the old Forest

Hill to the new Forest Hill, the teachers and children marched to the new one, which was also the last school by that name.

ing was replaced, but I believe it was sometime around 1925 or 1926.  School was held in the Simpsonville Baptist Church while the old building was torn down and a new one was built.  The new school house also had four classrooms, but it included a separate auditorium that separated the classrooms.

The school grounds had a corral with a shed for students who rode horses to school.  There were locations for girls’

The Simpsonville School was located north of the intersection of FM 556 and FM 2088 in what is now the horse pasture behind Aron and Charlene Tucker’s house. 

The original school building was a 4-room structure with one wall that could be removed to form a larger auditorium.

I don’t know exactly when that build

SIMPSONVILLE SCHOOL

ceased to exist and became part of the Perryvile school.  Some of those schools were Wallingville, Caney Creek, McGee, and Dark Corner/Piney Grove.  Prior to that time there was a state law

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that stated that there was to be a school for every 5 sq. mi.  The Masons pushed this in public schools in the 1850s.

Perryville was the first school in this area to have a gymnasium.  They had a gym before Winnsboro or Gilmer schools.  Perryville’s gym was actually a gymnasium/auditorium combined.  The south side of the gym was 6 feet off the ground to make it level.  When they were playing basketball, the fans set on the stage.  Max Whitely, who has so graciously shared his stories and

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The first Perryville School was located southeast of where the Methodist church is now located.  Joe Derrick Hallonquist gave the land for the school and church.

 

Sometime in the early 1920s, the “county school” was built.  This school was located just inside the Upshur/Wood county line and had its own generator.  The land is currently owned by Lisa Plunkett.  She said the steps to the gym are still there.  I believe during this era other smaller country schools

PERRYVILLE SCHOOL