By Pat Turner Ritchie
Reminder! Brocks Gap Heritage Day is April 18, from 10-4, at J. Frank Hillyard Middle School. This free event celebrates the families and history of Bergton, Criders, and Fulks Run. Our programs will discuss Native Americans in the Shenandoah Valley (Dr. Carole Nash); “Hopkins Gap Settlement, Moonshine, and Violence” (Dr. Peggy Shifflett and Lori Bennett); and “The Brigadier General With the Brock’s Gap Roots: The Controversial Life and Legacy of John Robert Jones, C.S.A.” by Dale Harter. Nearly 200 posters of old photos of life and families in Brocks Gap, my personal library available for research, lots of potential cousins to meet—It’s a fun day, sponsored by my family and me. If you’d like to volunteer, contact me at 540 303-3845 (cell) or email: patritchie (at) verizon.net.
This column presents the second part of school superintendent George Hulvey’s 1886 tour to Brocks Gap schools. The morning of his fourth day, he started out in rain and ice on top of the Shenandoah Mountain. His first stop was Miss Heavner’s school of 11 students [Mountain Home]. Because of the rain, he and his guide David Hoover carried their saddles into the school. He enjoyed talking with the students, saying, “They had a good, comfortable school-house, and a bright-eyed school miss to instruct them.”
From there, they took a steep road down to German River, with icy branches sometimes smacking them in the face. In the middle of the uncomfortable ride, they met a “sweet-faced mountain lassie plodding along as if unconscious of the pouring rain.” Soon they were following Big [German] river, which they had to cross and recross frequently. At Shaver’s School-house [intersection of German River Road and Gochenour Lane, Criders], John Brady was teaching the ABCs and spelling.
Next stop was Caplinger’s School [near 20588 Criders Rd., Criders]. J. Luther Wittig was teaching, and the students were a little more advanced than some of the other schools. Hulvey mentioned passing the finest grove of sugar maple in the Gap.
The rain continued, and the creeks were rising. At Bergton, they didn’t stop at the school but continued on toward [Route 259] until they got to Mosee Albrite’s home [17495 Brocks Gap Rd.] where they fed their horses and ate a meal. The North Fork was too flooded to continue, but they backtracked along [Route 259] to Capon Run School where Siram May taught. They dried some of their clothes at the stove and discussed good places to hold teachers’ meetings on Saturday.
On a clear but cool Friday morning, the river had fallen but not enough to cross safely. While they waited for it to go down, they backtracked to Wittig’s Store or Dovesville [Bergton]. (The Wittig family was well-established with a mill, store, and lumber business. Even though the post office was Dovesville, it was known as Wittigs Store). They rode up Crab Run about 2 ½ miles to School #31. Hulvey did not record its name, just that the teacher was Mr. Cullers. They were disappointed because the school was suspended with no one around. Neighbor Philip Sowder [lived near 19742 Crab Run Road] told them that most of the students couldn’t attend because of the swollen streams. Sowder had been a fellow soldier with Hulvey in “the late unpleasantness.”
Traveling toward Dovesville, the next school [Pine Grove] was near Dovesville, No. 30. Again, Hulvey does not mention an official school name, but John Holsinger was the teacher. Here was another stove pipe in bad condition, and Hulvey dismissed the school until it could be fixed. My great-grandfather Ahab Dove (another fellow soldier to Hulvey) was one of the school directors, so Hulvey stopped to discuss it with him. The district helped pay for the school house, then it was up to the directors to keep them in order.
By now the river had fallen, and Hulvey continued toward the Gap. At Riverside church area, Miss Palma Fulk was teaching in No. 28 on the southwest side of the river [Brake School? Or Whitmer School?]. He was very complimentary of her. Since Hulvey said the school was new and comfortable and on the southwest side of the river, he may have been referring to the Whitmer Schoolhouse, not the earlier Brake School near current Riverside church.
Three schools remained to visit. William May’s school [probably Fawley/Mt. Pleasant] was suspended, so they traveled to No. 26 [Mountain Dale on North Mountain Rd.] where Fannie Huddle was teaching. The last school in the Gap [Chimney Rock?] was also closed before they stopped by. Hulvey continued onto Harrisonburg at night.
The Gap had 16 good schoolhouses, 17 respectable schools (one being taught in a private home), covering over 100 miles. Hulvey wrote, “Brock’s Gap is a little world within itself.”
