(828) 526-0173 | [email protected] | Copyright 2024 – All Rights Reserved.
Highlands Village School
Written By: Mary Jane McCall | Issue: April 2023
Forget the school bus – it was a chore getting to the various schools scattered around Highlands.
We’ve all heard the old joke that when old timers describe how hard things were in the old days they often say, “When I was your age I walked five miles uphill to school.”
While it sounds a bit quaint today, it was actually true of early Highlanders who often did walk miles to school.
From the beginning our founding father, Samuel T. Kelsey, promised residents a first-class school, as evidenced in his promotional pamphlet in 1875. Through the years his vision has been carried forth, beginning with classes held at the old Billy Cabin Farm in 1875.
By 1879 the Highlands Village School opened in the center of town, where the Town Hall currently stands. It was here that renowned botanist and educator Professor Thomas Harbison established Highlands Academy, one of the first graded public schools in North Carolina.
In 1919 this school was replaced by the Town Clock School on Knowledge Hill, built on the hill behind the original school, on land where the Police Department currently stands. This two-story building included a four-sided tower on its roof to contain the town clock and the original schoolhouse bell, transferred to the new location and ringing out the hours for all to hear.
In addition to the school located in the town center many communities had their own one-room school houses which permitted students to attend classes closer to home. The first such school, the Shortoff School, opened in 1882, across from what is currently the Shortoff Church on Buck Creek Road. This school was replaced in 1906 by the Emmons Industrial School on the hill above the old schoolhouse.
Additionally, there was the Horse Cove School near the Whiteside Cove turnoff from the Horse Cove Road, the Clear Creek School near the Sassafras Gap turnoff in Clear Creek, the Broadway Gap School in Turtle Pond, and the Flat Mountain School.
These community schools allowed students to attend classes closer to their homes though they often still had to walk several miles. This all changed in 1928 when all the schools in the Highlands district were consolidated into the Town Clock School, which meant that many students had to walk five to seven miles to attend school, often leaving before daybreak and carrying lanterns to light the way.
Classes continued to be held here until the current Highlands School was built in 1951.
