A school building we mistakenly thought was lost was recently found. During an ATV ride through the woods of Mecklenburg County, a family came across a school building near Boydton, Virginia. They provided photographs to Preservation Virginia, and after researching the images and the location, we determined that it was the Shiloh Rosenwald School.
Photos courtesy of Heather Minter.
Shiloh School was a two-teacher school built in 1923 which we previously thought had been demolished. It was one of 17 Rosenwald Schools built in Mecklenburg County, of which nine remain standing.
In 2018 and 2019, we performed a statewide survey of Rosenwald Schools in Virginia. Visit our interactive map, zoom in and click the icons for more information about each school and images. Although Preservation Virginia staff, with the assistance of many dedicated community members, researched, field-checked and surveyed nearly 400 locations in the state, some of the schools could not be found.
The Rosenwald Schools not able to be located are noted on the map in their perspective counties, but not their exact locations. If you find a school that is mapped incorrectly, or is designated as “demolished” but is actually standing, or if you have further information to share about a school, please contact Sonja Ingram, preservation field services manager, at singram@preservationvirginia.org. For more information on our Rosenwald Schools project, see our website at https://preservationvirginia.org/our-work/architectural-rosenwald-school-survey/.
The image above is a historic photograph of the Shiloh School in Mecklenburg County, Virginia, from the collection of Fisk University. © 2001 Fisk University. All Rights Reserved.
