Folkway #13: Learning

So, how did our pioneers regard formal education?

It has often been said that there were no Ivy Leaguers in Pine Castle during the pioneer era and, if there were, they didn't stay long.

That may be technically true.  I haven't found any alumni from Harvard, Yale, or any other Ivy League school among our community's early records. 

But, there were certainly college-educated people among the first settlers.  Indeed, Will Wallace Harney, the founder of Pine Castle, was a Louisville graduate.  (He was also a former high school principal in his native state of Kentucky.)  Others included Harney's father-in-law Judge William Randolph, and their neighbor Francis Eppes.

While a college education may have been out of reach for the majority of the pioneer population, it is clear formal schooling was valued by the early settlers.

After the post office, the first civic building at Pine Castle was a public school.  It was built on land donated by Harney, a site still used for educational purposes to this day as the campus of Pine Castle Elementary School.

The first school teacher was Mrs. Jennie Preston, wife of the town's doctor.  (Incidentally, she was the namesake of Lake Jennie Jewel.)

Over the years, the little school introduced local children to the world beyond Pine Castle.  The faculty and staff became icons in the community's collective memory.  Among the best remembered were Principal C.L. Durrance (namesake of Durrance Elementary School) who allowed entire classes to accompany him to his home to listen to educational radio programs.  There was also Essie Johns, whose students were frequently found after school hours sitting on the front porch of her venerable residence: the "Crawford House."  And, there was Maud Hoffner, who taught successive generations of several local families.