Cherry Hill School (South Carolina)
United States historic place
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cherry Hill School is a historic school for African-American students located at Hilton Head Island, Beaufort County, South Carolina. It was the first separate school building for African-American students on the island.[2]
Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
Cherry Hill School | |
| |
  Location within South Carolina  Location within the United States | |
| Location | 210 Dillon Rd. Hilton Head Island, South Carolina |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 32°14′05″N 80°41′28″W |
| Area | less than one acre |
| Built | c. 1937 |
| Architectural style | Vernacular |
| NRHP reference No. | 12000965[1] |
| Added to NRHP | November 21, 2012 |
Architecture
The school is a simple, gable-front rectangular one-room frame and weatherboard-sided schoolhouse on an open brick-pier foundation.
History
The community that built and helped maintain the school consisted of the descendants of the former-slave town of Mitchelville, the first community to mandate education in the South. The community raised the funds to buy land for the school building.[3] The building would replace an earlier Cherry Hill School, which held its classes at St. James parsonage.[3]
The school was built about 1937.[3] It was an elementary school with one teacher that served about 30 students annually. When it opened it taught grades 1–5; 6th grade was added in the 1938 school year.[3]
The school operated until all African-American children attended the new consolidated Hilton Head Elementary School in 1954.[4] The St. James Baptist Church purchased the school in 1956, and used the building as a multi-purpose space.[4] The church extended and renovated the building in 1984.[5][6]
It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2012.[1] In 2013 a historical marker was erected near the building.[7]
In 2019 plans were announced to relocate the school as part of an expansion for the Hilton Head Airport.[8]