Martinsville Bulletin, Inc.
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Martinsville, Virginia 24115
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Frank Agnew stands in front of the historic Rock Run School building near Fieldale, which he owns and is remodeling. Recently, the foundation was repaired, the building was stabilized and the exterior was painted. (Bulletin photo by Mickey Powell) |
Sunday, July 29, 2007
By MICKEY POWELL - Bulletin Staff Writer
Friday morning, Ora Hairston was pleased to see that the exterior of the former Rock Run School near Fieldale has been painted.
But she marveled at the new windows installed in the front of the historic building. She recalled that when she was a student at the school during the early 1930s, the building had windows on its back side but not its front.
Hairston said the exterior renovations are “a great improvement” over the building’s previous dilapidated appearance.
“The effect is wonderful,” said Deepa Sanyal, a Martinsville-based project manager for the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Sanyal had recommended that the large holes where windows once were be boarded up, said Frank Agnew, a former Rock Run student who now owns the building. But he decided to have some windows specially made for the former school instead.
Agnew said he also repaired the stone foundation to stabilize the building, as well as installed a gravel driveway from Mariah Road to the structure. The building previously could be reached only through a path from Agnew’s yard on John Baker Road nearby.
The new paint and windows were not covered by a $10,000 grant Agnew received from the Martinsville and Henry County Preservation Fund, Sanyal said. The grant was to help stabilize the building and make roof repairs.
“Most of this (work) has been done on his own,” she said while visiting the building Friday to examine progress made on the remodeling. About a dozen neighborhood residents and former Rock Run students also were there.
The preservation fund grant came from The Harvest Foundation, not the National Trust, Sanyal pointed out. But she and the trust are spearheading efforts to revitalize some historic buildings in the community.
Agnew said he has used grant funds, some of his own money and donated materials toward remodeling Rock Run.
In fact, many area residents and businesses have donated money, labor and materials for the project. He is grateful to them because he could not have done the work without their contributions, he said.
More than $30,000, including the value of donated labor and materials, has been spent on renovating the structure, Agnew said. He estimated that he spends on average 20 to 25 hours per week on the project.
Rock Run was built in the 1880s. Black students were educated inside the wooden building until the former Mary Hunter Elementary School in Bassett opened in the mid-1950s.
The building now is on the National Register of Historic Places and the Virginia Landmarks Register.
Renovations to Rock Run are continuing. The focus now is on the interior.
Agnew said he is in the process of acquiring old-timey furnishings needed to make classrooms look like they did in yesteryear. He plans to reinstall an old pot-bellied stove that kept children warm in the winter — after they chopped up enough wood to keep the fire going.
Repairs are needed to interior wooden surfaces. Ulysses Norman, a Bassett carpenter who is assisting Agnew with the renovations, said he is trying to find new wood that matches the interior wood so it is all the same color.
“I don’t think it’s ever been painted in here,” Norman said of the wood.
Agnew also wants to restore electricity to the building. Electricity had been installed only a short time before the former school closed, he recalled.
Eventually, he would like to see the building used as a community center, a place where events such as family reunions are held, he indicated.
“It seems like a sacred spot” for the Fiedale area, said Sanyal, one that would be a good place to host such events.
Sanyal on Friday also saw recent improvements to the Fieldale Community Center, which received a preservation fund grant similar to Rock Run’s.
Improvements at the community center include new paint and gutters. Board member Harriet Copeland said the center hopes to receive funds from The Harvest Foundation to install some new playground equipment. |
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