In the BEGINNING
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EVENDORF’S DAUGHTER, MEREDITH DEVENDORF, CO-OWNER OF DUNHAM FARMS AND AN ORIGINAL BOARD MEMBER, WAS FASCINATED BY HISTORY, BUT SHE FOUND IT ODD THAT SHE DIDN’T KNOW THE STORY OF THE ORDINARY PEOPLE AROUND HER. “Our histories are written on porches and at church suppers, when we listen to our elders and we get the story of what came before,” Meredith Devendorf says. So, in 1986, she began working on a high-school project doing oral histories and spoke to a man named Clement Stevens Sr.
“He started talking about the schoolhouse,” she says. The two were captivated by his stories and, later, when Meredith Devendorf went off to college, all the fun began. Stevens came to Laura Devendorf concerning the fading schoolhouse. “He said, ‘They are going to tear the schoolhouse down,’” she says, “And I thought, ‘Oh no they can’t do that.’” Sunbury Baptist Church decided to donate the schoolhouse to Devendorf, who was at a loss because the school needed a lot of work. “I knew nothing about restoration and preservation,” she says with a chuckle. “So I went to a man who did all the restoration on Jekyll
This home belonged to a woman named George Ann Delegal. Delegal was a seamstress who often opened her home to visiting teachers who came to teach at the schoolhouse. Opposite Page: Numbered boards used for teaching decorate the walls of the renovated schoolhouse. The room also features a blackboard painted on the wall and switches standing in the corner to remind the children of the consequences of misbehaving.
“OUR HISTORIES ARE WRITTEN ON PORCHES AND AT CHURCH SUPPERS, WHEN WE LISTEN TO OUR ELDERS AND WE GET THE STORY OF WHAT CAME BEFORE.” — MEREDITH DEVENDORF APRIL / MAY 2015 /// LIBERTY LIFE MAGAZINE
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