Simpson School House (1886-1909)

Simpson School House 1886-1909 (Caswell County, North Carolina): Vance E. Swift's "Alma Mater" - This one room log school house was built in 1886 and served as the public school for descendants of Richard Simpson of Fairfax County, Virginia, who settled on the headwaters of Stoney Creek and Country Line Creek, Local school district number one -- Caswell County, North Carolina. Drawing made in 1986 by Vance E. Swift, the author of this booklet, as he recalls to memory the old school house and grounds when he attended public school there during the years 1904-1909. The old school house was still standing in 1929 when Vance Swift returned to Caswell as County Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Note the following from The Heritage of Caswell County, North Carolina, Jeannine D. Whitlow, Editor (1985) at 516-517 (Article #707, "Vance E. Swift and the Swift Family of Caswell County, N.C." by Vance E. Swift):

"Vance E. Swift [the author], at the age of 5, began his schooling in the one-room log school house, known as the old Simpson school, which operated for a four month term each year. There was no furniture in the school house except benches constructed of rough sawn slabs, one slant-top writing table and a wood burning stove." Vance Everette Swift (1898-1990).

Drawing from The Heritage of Caswell County, North Carolina, Jeannine D. Whitlow, Editor (1985) at 516-517 (Article #707, "Vance E. Swift and the Swift Family of Caswell County, N.C." by Vance E. Swift).

Photograph courtesy Seth Swift.
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Here is another photograph of a Simpson School in Caswell County, North Carolina. Whether the two buildings featured here are the same is not known. However, there is a history of only one Simpson School that was operating in Caswell County during the first half of the twentieth century.

Comparing the two photographs shows either different entrances, a modification to the same entrance, or that the buildings are not the same.

Latter two images courtesy Charlotte Wilson Sipe.
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(click on photograph for larger image)
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