As they taught, they spread the word

BY EDDIE WALKER

Religion and education often have been hand-inhand through the years, although in more recent years, it seemed that each was pulling against the other. It was the work of the church that established the first formal educational program in Cocke County, and then various religious denominations established their own educational institutions.

Cocke County’s first school was Anderson Academy, which resulted from a legislative act dated Sep. 13, 1806, which designated the proceeds from the sale of public lands for an academy to be established in every county. At that time there were only 32 counties. The goals of these academies were to develop the moral and spiritual natures of the pupils, to emphasize cultural education and to develop a body of intelligent students.

Anderson Academy was named for Tennessee Sen. Joseph Anderson (17571837), who lived in Lowland in what is now Hamblen County. Due to financial issues, the academy was not functioning until 1815. Although the academy was established with public monies, it had a strong Presbyterian influence, as most of its professors were Presbyterian ministers. It was the Presbyterian church that brought religion and education into the wilderness of East Tennessee.

The first academy was a mile west of Newport [Oldtown] near the present intersection of Woodson Road and Wagon Way. By 1850, the original building had been abandoned and the institution had moved to a new building in Newport and changed the name to “Newport Academy.” This school closed at the beginning of the Civil War. Tennessee did not have a well-organized statewide school system until after the war. The present system had its origins in 1873 when an act required public schools to be funded by property taxes and poll taxes and created the office of superintendent of schools in every county.

The religious denominations continued to support their own institutions, which became mission opportunities for church groups. It became the job of the missionaries to make the schools’ programs and needs known to those interested.

Parrottsville Academy was established in 1875 by a group of citizens, all but one being Methodist. The first teachers, George R. Stuart and Thomas F. Robeson, both became Methodist preachers. The school had both primary and secondary instruction, with plans to offer one year of college work. The school was in the old Roadman Mansion. The Parrottsville United Methodist Church is on the site today.

Following a disagreement over staff, the trustees in

1886 sold the academy to the Methodist Episcopal Church, which operated it under its Southern Education program. The name was changed to Parrottsville Seminary. Information about the school, such as its staff, curricula, enrollment, tuition and property values began appearing in the annual reports of the Method- ist Episcopal denomination. Parrottsville Seminary does not appear in the reports after 1908. Area newspapers began mentioning Parrottsville High School. Most likely, the ME Church had sold the facility to the Cocke County School System.

Dr. Edward O. Guerrant (1838-1916) was a physician in Mt. Sterling, Kentucky, who was called to preach for the Presbyterian church. He had a fervor for sharing the gospel with the poor in the remote areas of Appalachia. Part of his plan was to help these people was providing educational opportunities where they might be most needed. To accomplish this goal, he established the

“Society of Soul Winners” in 1896.

Dr. Guerrant’s organization was responsible for establishing three educational institutions in Cocke County. First under the control of the Presbyterian Synod of Tennessee, they were later part of the Executive Committee of the Home Missions of the Presbyterian General Assembly.

These institutions were Ebenezer, Smoky Mountain Seminary and the John Black School.

Ebenezer was established in 1898 from a school that had begun about 1890 by two Moravian missionaries, Miss Catherine Plontz and William Nowak. Of Dr. Guerrant’s schools, Ebenezer is the best known. Two of its teachers, John Wood and Miss Lenora Whitaker, married and became the parents of writer Catherine Marshall, who used their experience there as the basis for her best-selling novel Christy, which was published in 1967. In 1994 the story was presented in a TV drama, parts of which some of the local residents found offensive.

The site of the school is near Chapel Hollow Road in the Old 15th section. It is about six miles south of Del Rio. The Presbyterians operated the school until 1927. The original mission building burned in 1962, but as a result of Christy, the location still attracts interest from visitors to the area.

Smoky Mountain Seminary was on Tobe’s Creek Road not far from the I-40 Waterville exit. It was established in 1901. In 1912 it was reported that there was a five-room school and a three-room cottage. In 1914, an article in The Newport Plain Talk told that there were 43 students and that tuition was 35 cents per month. A visitor to the Sunday School reported that the lesson was creditable to “the junior class of any theological seminary.” Smoky Mountain Seminary closed around 1925.

Miss Mary Andrews of Milledgeville, Georgia, came to the Black’s community near Hartford about 1903. Mr. John Black contacted Dr. Guerrant about the need for better educational instruction and spiritual guidance in his community. Miss Mary Andrews of Milledgeville came to the Black settlement about 1903. According to Presbyterian records, the school was not established until 1911. Even after the school closed, the church was called Mary Andrews Chapel. Miss Andrews remained in the community until her death in 1953.

1913. On a five-acre tract, there was a school building and cottages for Miss Compton and the ministers. The school had an excellent academic reputation. The county school system supported Compton Memorial to some degree. Following a disagreement, Miss Compton turned to the school back to Milligan College, which then sold it to Cocke County. Cosby Academy was established in 1912 by the Home Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention within the bounds of the East Tennessee Baptist Association. It was located on the site of the present Cosby School.

The original campus had an administration/ classroom building and a girls’ dormitory. Later a second dormitory was built. Classes began on Sept. 1, 1914. The school had both elementary and secondary classes. Its graduates went to college fully prepared. Its mission was frequently reported on the state paper Baptist and Reflector, and interested patrons were quick to meet its needs. The focus on mission schools decreased as public schools improved and busing became more available. Cosby Academy ceased to exist when it was sold to the Cocke County School System in 1935 and became Cosby School.

Sunset Gap is a community about five miles from Cosby on the Sevier-Cocke line. A school was opened there in 1924 by Miss Sarah Cochrane, who was a field missionary of the Presbyterian church. The school was actually named “Glenwood” but was best known just as “Sunset Gap.”

It was Miss Cochrane’s mission “to train boys and girls to be responsible, to be clean, to be neat and to cooperate with their fellows.”

At one time it was the only elementary school in Sevier or Cocke County to have an A rating.

The school program ended at Sunset Gap in 1960 and the facility became a mission and a community center. It is still functions as such today.

In addition to the mission schools, two missionary couples who played major roles for many years in the county were Rev. and Mrs. L.L. Brown and Rev. and Mrs. O.W. Harer. The couples worked in the communities and the schools to help the people spiritually, materially and educationally. Their work was done on faith as a labor of love.

In 1905, Miss Viola Compton of Indiana came to the Raven’s Branch community of Cocke County as a missionary of the Disciples of Christ. She had a dream to build a Christian school there, and with the help of the community and Milligan College, Compton Memorial School opened in

Affiliated with Christ’s Home in Warminster, Pennsylvania, the Browns were here for a short time in the early 1900ss and then left, doing mission work in Persia. They returned in the early 1930s, leaving in 1945 when Rev. Brown’s health failed. The Harers came after the Browns. Many citizens today still remember “Preacher Harer” and Miss Grace and the work they did to share God’s word with the local school children for 40-plus years.