The Dogtown (Cedars) School is shown on Lake's 1885 Atlas of
Rockingham County about one and a half miles southeast of Tenth
Legion near the intersection of the road leading to Mountain Valley
(currently Route 608) and the Keezletown Road (currently Route 717).
The school was located on the north side of the road on land deeded
to the Plains District School Board by Jacob and Mary Sellers on
September 26, 1881. The deed contained a clause, like many early
school deeds, that the property would revert to the original owners
when it ceased being used for school purposes. This school, which
first opened for the 1881-82 school year, was also known locally and
in the minutes of the Plains District School Board as the Sellers
School. There may have been a school in the area named the Sellers
School prior to the construction of the Dogtown (Cedars) School.
Teachers known to have taught at Dogtown (Cedars) are:
1881-82 Fannie Harrison
1882-83 George W. Salyards
1883-84 Nannie G. Harrison
1884-85 Nannie G. Harrison
Other teachers who taught at the school (dates unknown) were:
Martha Jennings
Ira Whitmer
Mr. Blakemore
Miss Lincoln (last teacher at Dogtown (Cedars)
The school closed sometime between 1900 and 1908. Marie Arrington, in
her book Mountain Valley People, related that her father attended the
school around 1900. The school is not listed in a school board school
record in 1908.
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