Friends Of
CHERRY GROVE SCHOOLHOUSE
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National Register of Historic Places Property
Washington-Wilkes County, Georgia
2023 Marguerite Willams Award Recipient
From The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation
April 22, 2023
This award recognizes the preservation project that made the greatest impact on historic preservation in the state of Georgia, as voted by The Georgia Trust Board of Trustees.
Grand Opening and Ribbon Cutting
October 22,2022
As a result of the tremendous outpouring of support from the beloved community, the Cherry Grove Schoolhouse celebrated its Grand Opening and Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony—complete with displays, period furnishings, and a welcoming space ready for visitors of all ages.
History Made!
June 23, 2020
After a five-year process, the schoolhouse is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places—one of just fifteen identified surviving pre-Rosenwald, one-room schoolhouses for African Americans built on church grounds within the state of Georgia.
Perserving History
2019
The Friends of Cherry Grove Schoolhouse became an incorporated organization, and the schoolhouse was subsequently nominated and approved by the Georgia National Register Review Board.
The schoolhouse was nominated as significant under National Register Criterion C in the area of architecture, as a rare example of a vernacular one-room schoolhouse with no stylistic features. It was also deemed significant under National Register Criterion A in the areas of Ethnic Heritage/Black and Education.
Circa. 1950
Founder Barrett Hanson recognized the need to preserve this early African American educational institution. For generations, the community had witnessed its deterioration due to exposure and a lack of maintenance funds. In response, trusted advocates from the community were brought together, united by a shared mission.
Organization Founded
2015
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Schoolhouse Built
1910
The schoolhouse is located on the four-acre campus of the Cherry Grove Baptist Church at 1878 Danburg Road (Route 44 North) surrounded by an unincorporated rural farming community, most notably, historical Cohentown. The building was used to teach primary school through the seventh grade.
To this day, the schoolhouse is still owned by the same congregation which originally acquired the land. The building continued to be used as a school with elementary grades taught by a single teacher until the early 1950s when many small rural church schools in the county were closed and consolidated to a larger school for African-Americans.
