Site of Gum Creek School

Duane's take

This one comes straight from the official marker — let me tell it to you the way it deserves to be told. After the Civil War closed out in 1865, a man named Armstead Barker packed up his family and brought them to this stretch of Henderson County. That was a bold move in those days — building something new on ground that had never had to reckon with you as a free person before.

Other African American families followed, drawn to the same possibility, and the settlement they built together became known as Gum Creek. Now, a community without a school is a community with one hand tied behind its back. And the people of Gum Creek knew that.

By the mid-1880s, African American children in the area were attending Gum Creek School — a one-room frame building offering classes all the way through the eighth grade. One room. Every age, every lesson, every dream, all under the same roof.

The school ran from October through March. Not because anybody couldn't do the math any other way, but because the rest of the year, those children were needed in the fields — planting season, harvesting season. That was the rhythm of rural life, and this school worked inside it rather than against it.

Early teachers who stood at the front of that one room included P.H. Eddings, S.H. Wilhite, and J.M.

Donnell. Holding things together as trustees were J.T. Dunnington, Sam Frank, W.H.

Barker, and C.S. Sharp. Gum Creek School sat within County District Two, and it had a neighbor in spirit if not in timber — Wade's Chapel A.M.E.

Church shared the building. Church and school, school and church. That building carried the weight of both.

In 1902, a man named J.I. Richardson bought land in the vicinity that included the school's location. Time passed.

Richardson passed. And in 1920, his widow Nannie sold the property to the school district trustees — but she was careful about it. The deed she signed stipulated that the land must continue to be used for both school and church purposes.

Nannie Richardson made sure that sale was also a promise. Meanwhile, when the area's white schools consolidated into the Baxter School, Gum Creek sometimes got a new name in the ledgers — Baxter Colored School. The community endured that, as they had endured so much else, and kept on.

But after the 1938 to 1939 school term, Gum Creek School closed its doors for the last time. Students moved on to Blackshear Public School and Fisher High School in Athens. The property was sold to Wade's Chapel Methodist Church.

Later, Dunnington heirs bought the land. And in 1942, the building burned. Nothing left standing.

Not a board, not a window frame. But here is what the marker wants you to hold onto as you drive away from this spot: in all those decades between emancipation and integration — all those years when the law was not on their side and the odds were rarely in their favor — the parents and educators of Gum Creek strived to provide education as a means to true freedom. They built a school.

They kept it running. They made children sit in one room and reach for something larger than what the world had assigned them. The building is gone.

The record remains. And out here on this Henderson County road, that's enough to make the ground feel like it means something.

What the marker says

Following the close of the Civil War in 1865, Armstead Barker brought his family to this area. Other African American families followed, and their settlement became known as Gum Creek. By the mid-1880s, African American children in the area attended Gum Creek School, which offered classes through the eighth grade. Students met in a one-room frame building. Early teachers included P.H. Eddings, S.H. Wilhite and J.M. Donnell. J.T. Dunnington, Sam Frank, W.H. Barker and C.S. Sharp served as trustees. As in many rural schools, students attended classes from October through March so they could work in the fields for planting and harvesting seasons. The school was part of County District Two. When area white schools combined to form the Baxter School, the Gum Creek facility was sometimes also called Baxter Colored School. In 1902, J.I. Richardson bought land in this vicinity that included the school location. Wade's Chapel A.M.E. Church also used the school building, and in 1920, when Richardson's widow, Nannie, sold the property to school district trustees, the deed stipulated that it continue to be used for both school and church purposes. Following the 1938-39 school term, Gum Creek School closed. Students transferred to Blackshear Public School and Fisher High School in Athens, and the school district sold the property to Wade's Chapel Methodist Church. Dunnington heirs later bought the property, and the building burned in 1942. Today, the history of Gum Creek School represents early efforts to educate the area's African American youth. In the many decades between emancipation and integration, parents and educators strived to provide education as a means to true freedom. (2005)