The JACKSON RIDGE SCHOOL 1890-c 1913 was located about two miles northwest of Versailles on the Jackson Ridge road. On August 13, 1890, T. L. Hendrix and wife deeded 151/160 acre of and for a school. The site was adjacent to the G. W. Burns or Ivey Phillips Burns farm and southeast of their log home. The I. P. Burns farm is shown on the 1878 Beers Map.
The one-room frame building stood near the road. It measured approximately 30 x 48 feet and had large windows.
Among the teachers were Clara Jackson, in 1880’s, Julia Lee Burns, in picture, John Wilson, Jr., Lulu Whitehead, John Lee Poplin, Dr. Stephen Duggin, Ada Clark Ramsey, in picture, Lillie Mae Carlton Morgan, in picture, Gertrude Burns Holton, in picture, Minnie Morgan Westbrooks, in picture, Ella Harris, in picture, Mattie Ghee, in picture, Bill Landis, and Tennie Harris, who was the teacher in 1897. Franklin Taylor, who married in 1878, was also a teacher.
High ideals, good manners, and strict morals were constantly stressed. Large printed mottoes emphasizing the virtues were displayed in the school room. Good literature including the Classics and the Bible was placed in the hands of he children. Bible verses and literary gems were committed to memory. Spelling matches were held regularly.
After the ROCKVALE CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL was built, the JACKSON RIDGE school was closed. W. R. Frazier transported the students to ROCKVALE in a school wagon.
In August 1914, the school property was sold to Mrs. Ella Burns by the Rutherford County Board of Education. Johnny Burns converted the building into a residence for the Burns family. It burned about 1925.
SOURCES: Deed Book 32, p. 434; Book 57, p. 120. Horace Burns, “Jackson Ridge” in the files of the Rutherford County Historical Society. R. Fred Nance and John W. Nance, comp., The History of Versailles, the Tenth District and Its People Rutherford County Historical Society, 1983), Interviews Oct. 8, 1984, with *Virginia Taylor Jackson; July 29, 1985, with Bertha Turner Snow, b. 1897; Dec. 18, 1984, with Lula Mai Ralston Burns, daughter-in-law of Mrs. Ella Carlton Burns; c. 18, 1984, with S. Houston Hendrix, great grandson of
T.L. Hendrix. *Vera Covington.