Nothing I love more than a fall road trip, especially when I had the luxury of a little more time to get there, and get home again. Wednesday was a beautiful sunny fall day, and I had taken time before hand to plot out the New Deal or possible New Deal locations on one route down, and an alternate route home.
In the "Kosciusko vicinity" section of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Historic Resources Inventory, I noted the listing of the Carmack School, built 1938, but no other available information. Carmack community was on the road from Kosciusko to Philadelphia, so there was not even a need to make a detour to locate it.
Can you feel my elation when I spotted the cornerstone immediately? Newspaper archives so far have not turned up any mention of the construction of the school, but that little concrete jewel on the corner is all I needed to see. The front of the building has been re-sided (with vinyl siding, unfortunately), and thank goodness they had the awareness to leave the cornerstone visible, or evidence of this building's construction could have been obscured.
The building is undergoing renovation, and again unfortunately, the large windows are being replaced, as those on the front already have been. My guess is the back of the building will shortly wear that vinyl siding also.
The base of an old see-saw remains firmly rooted, though the boards are long since removed. Who remembers "see-saw injuries" from your childhood? One of our favorites was to walk the see-saw from end to end. The deeply worn rut under the merry-go-round gives evidence of how long it was used. Even the pine straw has not yet been able to fully obliterate the evidence of all those little feet running in circles, or dragging in the dirt when you were trying to stop, or in some cases, thwart the efforts of your classmates to get up to speed!
During the early part of the century, it was also common to construct teachers' houses next door to the school, particularly in the rural areas. MDAH database gives no additional information about the teacher's house located in the Carmack community, but the National Youth Administration constructed many teachers' houses next to the rural school buildings they constructed. The
Series 2018 National Youth Administration Work Projects Photograph Album, 1937-1939 provides pictures and community identification on a number of them.
It was hard to resist taking a spin and dragging my feet, but I thought perhaps it was best not to tempt fate (and my knees and hips) in the middle of nowhere...I mean, in the middle of Carmack.
5 comments:
I know that feeling of elation when that marker is discovered and it doesn't matter if it is quickly found or long searched for either! Vinyl siding, UGH! At least the building is being maintained.
Yes, I try to think the conservation of the building is paramount, and perhaps the windows were beyond repair. It is currently in use as a community center and apparently sees some regular activity.
I know vinyl is ugh, but at least it's being used. They definitely see the history of the building by making the effort to make sure you can still see the corner stone.
I agree, Lana--they went to a lot of work to keep that cornerstone visible. They get extra points for that, which offsets the -10 for vinyl siding. :)
Love the old merry go round and memories of playgrounds from years gone by. When we were at Buffalo Gap last Christmas, the kids had a blast on a super old merry go round at the historic village. I was sure someone was going to get killed on it. haha
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