In the years following the Civil War, newly free African Americans bought land and formed neighborhoods on St. Simons Island. Three of these communities had names—Harrington, Jewtown, and South End. The largest, Harrington, originally consisted of people who had formerly been enslaved on the northern half of the island. After emancipation, many worked in the sawmills that brought St. Simons new economic growth in the wake of the war.
These communities were not just populated by adults. By the turn of the twentieth century, census data showed a thriving community of families, including many children listed as “at school.” In 1919 and 1920, the Glynn County Board of Education explored the option of a Rosenwald School for the education of the community’s children. The Rosenwald School project, the result of a collaboration between Tuskegee Institute founder Booker T. Washington and Sears, Roebuck and Company president Julius Rosenwald, built more than 5,000 schools for African American children across the country. Although the school built on St. Simons during the 1920s was not a Rosenwald School, its layout resembled many of the schools built during the project.
For decades, the Harrington School educated children from all three African American island communities through the eighth grade, after which children traveled to mainland schools. The building also functioned as a community center and gathering place. Annual celebrations held there included the plaiting of the Maypole, and Halloween and Christmas parties. Musicologist Alan Lomax and writer Lydia Parrish, among others, visited the Harrington community to interview residents and document Gullah-Geechee culture.
Following integration in the 1960s, the building housed a day care center and later sat empty. In 2011, the school was listed by the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation as one of its yearly Places in Peril. The building was slated for demolition, but the funds were raised to instead restore the building and open it as a museum. The school reopened in 2017, and today it remains an important site for the history of the Harrington and St. Simons communities.
This year, the Historic Harrington School celebrates its 100th anniversary with a year of special programming. Visit the website of the St. Simons African American Heritage Coalition, ssiheritagecoalition.org, for information about upcoming programs. In partnership with the Coastal Georgia Historical Society, the School will also present a series of 52 facts about local African American history, which are available weekly on the Coalition’s website.
The black and white image of the Harrington School before restoration comes from the collection of the Coastal Georgia Historical Society. The color photo of the restored school is courtesy of the St. Simons African American Heritage Coalition.
Coastal Georgia Historical Society presents this article and images from our archives as part of our mission “to connect people to Coastal Georgia’s dynamic history.” The Society operates the iconic St. Simons Lighthouse Museum and the World War II Home Front Museum, housed in the Historic Coast Guard Station at East Beach. To learn more about the Society, its museums, diverse programs, and membership, please visit coastalgeorgiahistory.org.
