Source:Reedy, Dennis. School and Community History of Dickenson County, Virginia

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Source School and community history of Dickenson County, Virginia
Author Reedy, Dennis
Coverage
Place Dickenson, Virginia, United States
Subject History
Publication information
Type Miscellaneous
Publisher Overmountain Press
Date issued 1994, c1992
Place issued Johnson City, Tennessee
Citation
Reedy, Dennis. School and community history of Dickenson County, Virginia. (Johnson City, Tennessee: Overmountain Press, 1994, c1992).
Repositories
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Source:Reedy, 1994

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from p303-304:

ANNALS OF PINE CREEK
by C.S. Beverly, Freeling, Virginia
First Public School



The real school history of Pine Creek dates back to certain other schools which served the people ofthe section in question in days called "ancient" in parlance slangy. The most notable of these was the Trivette school, located near the mouth of Howell Branch, a tributary of George’s Fork. This school was probably established soon after the institution of the public school system in this state. One among the early teachers was Mr. Russell McFall, son of Mr. William McFalI. Russell McFa|l became insane sometime in 1906, and died about 1909. He was at one time Commonwealth’s Attorney for Dickenson County, and became famous locally for the defense of the Bryant brothers, while practicing law in the latter part of 1904. Most people yet believe that he so con- centrated himself on this case as to bring on insanity.

A Mr. French, a Miss Clevenger and Mr. C.S. Colley taught the Trivette school from about 1900 to 1904. This was the heyday of the school, and during that time it is very probable that it was the most markedly energetic and public-spirited school in the county. Every Friday evening was an open day for those aspiring to oratorical honors and those who made pretensions to unusual spelling abilities. The center of population was in this particular section, and it was comparatively a large school. Two flourishing general merchandise stores drew an unexplained amount of trade from far and near, and the postoffice also had a very large quota of patrons. This was a gathering place for a wide strip of territo|'y, and the business of visiting school on Friday evenings was in strong public favor, and the school was known far and wide as which was amply able to furnish entertainment for visitors. This practice was held to very generally then, but now the psychology of the average citizen does not seem to call for any such activities. One of the students of the Trivette school, who long held the reputation of having traveled farther than anyone else in Dickenson County, was a Mr. Barlow Willis, son of James Willis. It is told that he did not seem to find any interest in the majority of his studies, but seemed to want only to study geography and such maps as he could secure. When the Klondike Gold Rush began, he had never seen a train, and knew nothing of the world beyond his kin by personal experience, but without warning he started for Alaska. He seems to have had a migrating instinct, likewise his brothers, most of which now live in the state of Washington. Willis reached the Klondike, but for a long time no word came back, and it was supposed that he was dead, but after two or three years he appeared in Lebam, Washington, and at wide intervals visited home. He now lives in the same place.

About 1905 several of the patrons left the Trivette community, and the school lost some of its prestige. Miss Bertha McFall, daughter of Russell McFall taught in 1907; Mr. Delbert Davis, in 1908. This was a markedly successful school, though rather small, and perhaps the most successful entertainment held in these parts was given at the close ofschool. Mr. J.l(. Colley taught a good school in 1909. In 1910 Mr. Marshall Meade taught for two months, and then stopped to attend college. The school was still small, but held several spelling matches with such schools as could be reached, consistently winning, and then offered the Clintwood High a match, but the offer was not accepted. There were not more than twenty students at the Trivette school at this time, but it was probably the strongest spelling aggregation ever gotten together.

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