Historic School Converted to Hay Barn in Tennessee
Glendale School | Washington County, Tennessee | c. 1914
Perhaps the most elaborate hay barn you’ve ever seen, this building was erected in 1914 to educate the children of a rural Tennessee community, first called Locust Mount and then later Oak Hill. The area known as Locust Mount encompasses parts of the Seventh, Thirteenth, and Seventeenth Civil Districts of Washington County, near the Sulphur Springs, Fall Branch, and Harmony communities. After 1909, it became known as the Oak Hill community.
The area is mainly agricultural and was settled by Scotch-Irish people who were described as ‘landed gentry.’ Family names of early settlers to this community include Brown, Hicks, Odell, Martin, Shipley, Walker, Kincheloe, and Whitaker. Descendants of some of these early settlers still live in the community today. The community’s first post office, Locust Mount, was established in 1836 and operated until 1900 when the Limestone Post Office began to provide Rural Free Delivery.
Glendale School
This gothic-style schoolhouse was constructed between 1913-14 and opened in 1914. It was built on land that was donated by Sevier Tadlock “S.T.” Martin and his wife, Sarah Ann Campbell Martin. At the same time, another local man named Davis Barnes donated a 75-foot corridor of his land to provide access to the spring so students could gather water.
In 1914, the Glendale School had 3 teachers: Principal E. C. Hicks, Myrtle Leonard, and Frances Walker. There were 126 pupils and a daily average attendance of 91.
Students from the Glendale School continued their education in high school at Sulphur Springs, either riding horseback daily to school or living in cabins rented at that school.
The Glendale School finally closed in the late 1930s when the new Bowmantown School was completed nearby in 1939. This new brick school operated until the late 1950s, Subsequently, a farmer bought the property and offered it to the county to restore but they were not interested and it has been used to store hay ever since.
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