Rocky Branch School
Sutherland, Virginia
In 1911 a group of Dinwiddie County’s African-American residents established the Rocky Branch School in Sutherland. The school was a typical two-room schoolhouse. It had been moved from original location across from Ocran Methodist Church on U.S. Route 460 about two miles east of this site. Reading, writing and arithmetic were taught in grades one through seven. Each day school began with a short devotion. Students were also required to recite Bible verses and sing patriotic and gospel songs daily.
Transportation was not provided to the school’s students, resulting in many boys and girls walking four or five miles to school each day. Despite this fact, attendance was always high, and a large percentage of the school’s students continued their education through high school and college.
The school’s heating system consisted of a large potbellied stove in the room for grades one through three and a long cast iron stove for grades four through seven. The boys from the sixth and seventh grade classes had the responsibility of keeping the wood dry by stacking it under the school. Often during the winter students had to huddle around the stove to keep warm during their lessons. Sometimes the teachers would bring soup for the students so they could have a warm meal at lunch.
The school’s wooden floors were oiled with used motor oil to help settle the dust from outside. Water was supplied by a deep well pump located on the right front side of the school. The outhouses were in the rear of the school, separated for males and females.
The school closed in 1963, but the building still stands as a symbol of education to all of its former students.
Marker is on Rocky Branch Road (Virginia Route 636) 0.3 miles south of New Cox Road (U.S. 460), on the left when traveling south.
Courtesy hmdb.org
