Ravenscroft School

Ravenscroft School was first located northwest of the Commissary about two hundred yards from the Ravenscroft Church of God on the Eugene Cody property.  Later the school was moved west of the main road in Ravenscroft.  The school was closed in 1954 when it was consolidated with other schools on the mountain to form BonDeCroft School.

About 1908, W. B. King moved his family to Ravenscroft where he was employed as principal of the school until 1919.  The miners and the mining company financially supported the schools in the mining communities.  At first, the mining town schools were operated ten months of the year.  By 1914, teachers were paid a ten-month salary for teaching nine months.  At that time, most schools in White County operated only four or five months of the year. Mrs. Nan Ledford Lawson who was a student at Ravenscroft reported that Mary Prater Hennessee played the piano and taught the students lots of nice songs.  They emphasized handwriting and practiced 45 minutes on penmanship each week.  Students in eighth grade began learning algebra after Christmas.  Mrs. Lawson also recalled the principal making an effort to correct students’ language mistakes.  She related that Anita Walker Komfield, who was a student at Ravenscroft, authored a book that gave a fictionalized account of growing up in Ravenscroft, entitled In a Bluebird’s Eye.

Teachers known to have taught at Ravenscroft include:
E. A. Ashburn – Mrs. E. A. Ashburn – Robert Austin – Gussie Baker – Leora Bolin – Rebecca P. Brady – Tom Brown – Mertie Bryant – Evelyn Cardoza – Kitty Lou Fisk Carson – Evelyn Cody – Ray Cowden – Robbie Floyd – Beecher Frasier – Bess Fulmer – Lydia Fulmer – Christine Gaffin – Bobby Golf – Mary Nell Hembree – Mary Prater Hennessee – Theodore Hedgecoth – W. B. King – Wallace Lamp – Manuel Officer – Berchie Pullum – Mattie Mae Martin – Alma Moore – Olive H. Myers – Laila Redden – Josephine Sapp – Everett Short – Chlora Mason Snodgrass – Ella Snodgrass – Mattie Pearl Stone – Elizabeth Thompson – J. W. Tucker – Mrs. J. W. Tucker – Lucille Turner – Mrs. Harry Walker – Pauline Walker – Sybil White.

Ray Cowden taught at Ravenscroft as principal from 1925 to 1940.  He had six teachers under him from 1934 to 1937.  During these years, Ravenscroft School had the second largest faculty of elementary schools in rural White Count