College of the Albemarle - Beacon Yearbook (Elizabeth City, NC)

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PASQUOTANK COUNTY: First in Private Education In 1705 Charles Griffin sailed to Pasquotank County from the West Indies. At Symons Creek that year, in what is pr e s um ed t o have been a little one-room school, Griffin became the first schoolmaster of the first s c hool in North Carolina. Although this school was public in the sense that anyone could attend, it was privately supported. From 1708 until 1803, little detail is known about education in Pasquotank County except that in 1708 the Rev. Mr. James Adams took Griffin's place, and no facts about school buildings can be verified. Legend says that the original Nixonton Academy building was the courthouse of 1780, moved to its p r e s e nt sit e on Symons Creek Road. The later Academy, generally considered to have been founded about 1884, probably was a continuation of the old Academy. The Thomas Davis ofthe 1888 report card on the right rowed across Little River at Durant's Neck to attend the Nixonton Academy where for a fee ofS1 .20 a typical student could attend the academy for 8X4 of a month. V- . , l PASQUOTANK Cigg?:Z9g?NATE SCHOOLS W Later pupils trudged miles through all sorts of 1803 Nixonton Academy, Nixontony N, C. weather to attendavariety of private schools--some 1809 Newland Academy, N6-W12-Hd, N. C. in the rural areas and others in Elizabeth City. 1820 Elizabeth City Academy, Elizabeth City, N. C. CBoys educated in the Christ Epis- copal Church old parish housej 1870 I. M. Tillett School for Boys, Elizabeth City, N. C. 1872 P. w. Melick School, Elizabeth City, N.c. ...fee 1876 Atlantic Collegiate Institute, Elizabeth City, N. C. Many private schools continued to operate after public e d u c at io n came into being. For example, these pupils attended Lister School for the 1905- 1 906 school year.

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,.,. Rh 'I ,',' ' f :lf ' fl .. .X Jai, If men could learn from history, what lessons it might teach us! Butpassion andparty blind our eyes, and the light which experience gives is a lantern on the stern, which shines only on the waves behind us! - Coleridge

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FIRST IN ED UCA TION The first available minutes of the Pasquotank County Schools are dated July 6, 1885, and show S. L. Sheep as secretary and superintendent to the board composed of a chairman and three meni- bers. As of the December 7, 1885, minutes there were 21 white teachers in 20 schools drawing an average s alary of 329.10 per month with an enrollment of 437 boys and 347 girls for 18 weeks of instruction. For 21 1 2 weeks 594 boys a.nd 572 girls attended 19 Negro schools with 29 teachers drawing an average monthly salary of S27.35. The December 1, 1885, minutes name 20 school dis- tricts each represented by three nien. First in Public Education In 1907, according to the r ec ords of the Pas- quotank H i sto ric al Society, public education in North C arolina began when S. L. Sheep sold the Atlantic Collegiate Institute and became the first public school superintendent of Pasquotank County. 4'f'7P Elizabeth City High School Now there are four county and seven city schools. Consolidation of some oi these schools has begun to be considered. Weeksville High School Of these eleven schools, four are the high schools pictured here. P. W. Moore High School l l Central High School From these high schools Elizabeth City State Teach- ers' College and the College of the Albemarle draw many of their students. 7