The exact date of construction of the Grottoes (Shendun) Colored School is unknown but the first known teacher at the school taught during the 1895-96 school session. Since this was the same time as the growth of the town of Shendun, this was most likely the date of construction of the school. The Grottoes school was a one-room school located in the village of Shendun (Grottoes). The school not only served Afro-American residents of the town but also those from the surrounding area. A 1904 teacher register lists the students as residents of the following communities: Grottoes, Middle River, and Leroy. Older residents of the area recall a colored school at Leroy and a school is indicated in Lake's 1885 Atlas of Rockingham County, but no records seem to exist for this early school. Family names of the students in the 1904 register are Blair, Bell, Carter, Darden, Harris, Jenkins, Johnson, Lewis, Mason, McCarthey, Randolph, Solomon, Stevenson, Terry, Veney and West. The Grottoes Colored School was closed in 1950.
Teachers known to have taught at the Grottoes Colored School are:
1895-96 Louise M. Reed
1896-97 (unknown)
1897-98 (unknown)
1898-99 W. S. Ruffin
1899-1900 (unknown)
1900-01 (unknown)
1901-03 (two sessions) Gertrude Frazier
1903-07 (four sessions) F. Eliott Pogue
1907-09 (two sessions) Hattie E. Newman
1909-10 Lucy J. Jones
1910-11 Mary A. Michie
1911-13 (two sessions) Pearl S.Matthews
1913-14 Georgiana Jackson
1914-16 (two sessions) Elsie Lewis
1916-17 Rebecca Goodloe
1917-18 Grace M. Chatfield
1918-19 Helen Irvin
1919-20 Yarry Barber
1920-21 Lena McCarthy
1921-22 Gertrude Swift
1922-26 (four sessions) Gertrude McCarthy
1926-27 Maggie V. Poindexter
1927-28 Hallie Booker Jones
1928-30 (two sessions) Bessie C. Drake
1930-31 Hallie Booker Jones
1931-32 J. A. Arter
1932-34 (two sessions) Jeane A. Francis
1934-35 Mary C. Moore
1935-36 (unknown)
1936-50 (fourteen sessions) Lessie V. Miller
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