FLETCHER’S SCHOOLHOUSE prior to Civil War was probably located some one hundred yards north of the James Franklin Fletcher plantation house which stood on the north side of the Bradyville Pike just outside of Murfreesboro. The location of the farm is shown on the 1878 Beers Map as being about one mile from the intersection of the Bradyville and
Manchester Roads in District 18. The site would now be in Murfreesboro, District 13.
Homer Pittard wrote: “The building of frame construction was large enough to accommodate the small Baptist congregation for six years and to provide an auditorium for certain exercises presented by Union University.”
“The Schoolhouse, which doubled as a plantation office, was probably constructed for the convenience of the numerous Fletcher children and possibly for those of others living in the immediate area.” Children believed to have been students were Sarah Childress Polk and her brothers and John Woods who lived on a neighboring farm.
Daniel Elam was a teacher.
SOURCES: *Homer Pittard, The Pillar and Ground Murfreesboro: Courier, 1968. *Rebecca L. Smith, History of Dilton Rutherford County Historical Society, hereafter referred to as RCHS, Winter 1973, p. 67.