The first settlers in Grayson County, Virginia brought with them ideas and customs they’d left behind in their homelands. There’s no records of the first education system in Spring Valley, Virginia, but in 1671, Governor Berkeley of Virginia received an inquiry of the home government as to the course taken concerning churches and schools. The government replied, “The same course that is taken in England…every man according to his ability instructing his children.“ Any evidence related to the first teaching of reading, writing, and arithmetic indicates that students were taught in the home. The instructor might have been a parent, other member of the family, neighbor, Tutor or Governess.
According to oral history, the first school in Spring Valley was a little log building where some of the children in the community attended classes for 3 to 5 months a year. When Ebeneezer church was established in 1846, children attended classes there, until Spring Valley was built later on..
An historical account written by Janie Hale Gentry (1928 – 2018), titled,, “Spring Valley’: Yesterday and Today”, tells a story of the first record of Spring Valley Academy’s existence appeared in the Virginia Gazetteer in 1890. It was also put on the Grayson County map in 1897 by state geologist, CR Boyd. The local board of trustees conducted the business of the school. They employed the teachers, set the pay scale, collected fees and handled all activities that were necessary for the management of the school. The county school board with its members from each county district came later in the development of public education. The school served as a community center for voting, pie suppers, parties, dinners, stage place, and all community activities except those conducted at the church.
The following quotes are taken from Gentry’s book and reflect the memories of Spring Valley’s prior students.
“Students walked for miles around to get there and we all ran up and down the hill with our books and lunchboxes. The day began with songs and the Lord’s prayer. The teacher conducted classes for seven grades. We studied, played, and had time to look out the high windows at the tips of the big oak trees as they danced in the breeze and the fluffy white clouds glided along the clear blue sky. Here in our childhood we formed lifelong friendships with strong bonds of sincere affection for each other. We had holiday programs that Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and a valentine box. At least once or twice a year we were sure to have a holiday of our own creation. Our old long metal stove pipe was sure to fall, it knew the perfect time, so we could have an afternoon on the playground. But it never let us down on a cold or rainy day, it held firm and strong. We left our school after seven years and for some of this completed their formal education. Others continued on the high school, colleges, and universities where they studied for many years. Our school was the center of our community life. We had musical programs, plays, dinners, box and pie suppers, Halloween and tacky parties. Meetings of all kinds were held there. Our school building of yesteryear still stands high on the hill and the old oak branches continue to dance across the sky.” – Janie Hale Gentry
“At recess when there was snow on the ground, we would ride our sleds down the steep hill. There is a branch at the foot of it, and lots of times some of us would end up in the branch, so we had to dry off by the big stove in our one room schoolhouse. Once our teacher took us on a picnic down on the new River, and we had a fantastic time/our first cookout! It was there I first tasted bacon.” – Louise Walters
“Mother was a teacher and taught at the little school house on the hill. There were seven grades all in one room, and she taught them all. She also produced several plays with local “actors.” We had pie suppers and other programs there also. I remember hearing that my grandparents donated the land for the school house.” – Dorothy Major
“Looking out of the window on the snow covered ground makes me think of my childhood school days. Today, in the year of 1994, all schools are closed if there is snow anywhere. That was not so when I walked over a half mile to a two room school. Everyone was expected to be there even if we had to walk over snow Dash drifted senses. The school rooms were built to keep out rain and snow but not the cold wind. The wind would find plenty of cracks and crevices to come through it would almost freezes students sitting on the back rows. To keep warm and cold, windy days, we had the privilege of pulling desks in a circle around a potbelly stove and sitting two or three on a two pupil desk. The teacher would go through the motion of having classes in the circle. there were at least three grades in each room, and the teacher taught all subjects in each grade. While she was teaching one subject, or I should say trying to teach one class, the other students were supposed to be studying. I’m not sure how much was tight or how much was learned, but there was a lot of whispering, making faces, and giggling going on behind those books held up in front of the students’ faces. What a privilege it was to enjoy a day of pretend study while sitting close to friends around the stove to keep warm on a cold winter day!” – Virginia Vaughan
