Karen Kistler

karen.kistler@salisburypost.com 

 

The doors of the historic Neely School were open on Feb. 22 for the community to tour and learn some history during a special open house event.

The school, located at 225 Neelytown Road, China Grove, houses some original items from the days when classes were being offered to students in the early 1900s including the pot-bellied stove, chalkboard and the original bell.

Tracey Neely Funderburk, secretary for the Historic Neely School Foundation and who led the tour, pulled the cord for the bell telling that the teacher would ring the bell to let the students know it was time for school.

She said that students would walk to school coming from that neighborhood and across the railroad tracks and as far as six miles away to attend.

However, before they started their school day, she said they would have to gather up wood and kindling to put into that stove and get the school building warm.

The one-room schoolhouse, built by Julius Neely in 1908, housed grades kindergarten through eighth grade and was originally set back in the woods, but was moved in 2014 with the help of large equipment.

Neely, a farmer and minister, taught his own seven children. He owned the tract of land where the school originally stood, it was noted on a sign at the original site. It said that he and his wife “wanted their children and the Neelytown community to have a school to call their own,” and therefore, the Rowan County superintendent of schools agreed to provide a teacher if he would build a school. 

Funderburk said that her great-great grandfather Neely built the school out of white oak, noting that termites don’t care for white oak, which has helped keep it from rotting, along with the tin roof.

Renovations have taken place as was evident with the new floors and ceiling and the outside. A photo inside the building showed the original school and how it looked following renovation work. It was evident from the photo that they have kept the original look, being whitewashed and with the tin roof.

Donations are accepted to continue with upkeep of the building plus for taxes and electricity. One way this is done is through the sale of merchandise and the sale of bricks which are placed at the original site, said Funderburk. For costs and other details on how to get a brick, visit the historic Neely School website. Those wishing to purchase a bench for the site can do this as well she added.

Through the years the school was open which was until 1948, 1,200 students went through it.

Marice Grissom Freeman, a member of the Neely family and whose mom, Mary Grissom, is an alumna, said the Neely’s home burned in the 1980s and they decided to move the school out of the woods because “it was just a sitting duck for the next storm” and no one would have been able to see the school as they would have had to clear out the entire area plus build a road. Therefore they thought it was more cost effect to move the school where it now sits.

During her tour of the school, Funderburk said that Neely’s daughters went off to college and upon graduating at Barber Scotia, returned to teach at Neely School.

Several alumni of the school remain and Grissom was on hand for the open house telling that she was there when her Aunt Mary, served as teacher. 

She wasn’t allowed to call her Aunt Mary during school but had to call her Miss May, said Freeman.

Grissom, who started at the school when she was five and continued until it closed, said she enjoyed everything at the school including language arts, math and spelling and that her time there led to her wanting to be a teacher.

Peter and Chelsea Franzese and their children Stella and Rocco were touring the house on Saturday and said they had learned of the open house during the Wine About Winter event at South Main Books.

Chelsea said they bought the book and decided that “it seemed like an easy way to get to come see it.”

“We just appreciate the work that went through to bring this to light,” said Peter, “and the opportunity we have to come and see history here and really what it meant to the community but really to the whole area.”

He also said they saw the bricks and saw some names of people they knew and said that “it’s just neat to see all the people involved in the process here.”

Walking along the trail which leads to the bricks and the site where the school once stood are signs sharing history that were placed by Eagle Scouts, said Funderburk.

In addition to donations, she said they are trying to get a grant to be able to get a golf cart, which would help those who are handicapped be able to drive on the trail and see the signs and the site.

The school is open only on open house events but Funderburk said they are hoping a grant would help them be able to have somebody on hand to be at the school whenever anyone wants to tour it.

For Funderburk and Freeman being able to see how the school continues to educate others and keep history alive was very important.

Funderburk said, “You can’t put a price on it. To have history this rich and it’s right here in my backyard, it’s unbelievable. And for the school to still be standing I feel like it was meant to still be here so other people could learn about it and find out how we have such rich history right here in China Grove.”

Freeman said that for Neely to have had “the foresight to do this in 1908 and that his wife was so supportive of him to be able to something, to be brave enough to do that because if it had been learned of by the wrong people, the best case scenario would have been that they would have burned it down. They probably would have lynched him. So just to have the foresight and bravery to do that is beyond pride and because of that we feel like a sense of duty to make sure that people know about it because it is a part of our history.”

And they would love to have people come and visit and see the school and keep doing what their Neely would have done, and that is to educate the children.

When asked why it’s important for people to come and visit, Debra Frazier, a member of the foundation board, said “because it’s history. It’s important that we continue to tell the stories because otherwise you will never know why you are here.”