HISTORICAL SKETCHES

CANE CREEK BAPTIST CHURCH

Number 17: June 2006 www.canecreek.org 6901 Orange Grove Rd., Hillsborough, NC 27278

ORANGE GROVE ACADEMY

Most of our ancestors had little education. If they could read or write at all, they owed it to the instruction of their parents or, if their parents were well to do, to a hired tutor. Thus the ability to read, write, and to calculate was not widespread.

However, once the county began to become settled, and once houses were built, fields cleared, and roads opened, some families banded together to see to the education of their children. They might combine forces to hire a teacher or they might prevail on a literate member of the community, sometimes a preacher, to undertake the education of a few children in his home or in what was known as an "old field" school because so many of these neighborhood schools were located in old worn-out fields.

The opening of UNC in 1795 offered a boost to education locally. When it became apparent that many of the young men who wished to enter the University were unqualified, there grew up a number of academies in Orange County whose function it was to prepare young men for college.

The first of these was the Hillsborough Academy, which opened at least as early as 1801. In 1812 the name of William Bingham appears as principle of the Hillsborough Academy. He later opened his own school at Mt. Repose near Mebane. In 1844 he moved his school to Oaks where it operated for 20 years until it returned to Mebane in 1863 and changed its mission temporarily to military education. There is also a faint record of a Bethlehem School in 1829 "on Cain Creek twelve miles from Hillsborough" under the direction of Charles W. Morrow and Walnut Grove School run by Elijah Graves in 1828 which may have been near White Cross.

Rock Spring Academy was established by W. P. Oldham in 1858 and was probably located in the vicinity of Apple Mill. The initial ad appeared in the Hillsborough Recorder on July 14:

"The Academy is situated ... in a moral and healthy community. We propose to prepare students for college or for the ordinary business of life. The terms are as follows: Classical or scientific course, $20; English, higher branches, $15; elementary, $10. Board can be had for $7 per month. T. D. Oldham and J. Moore are living convenient and take boarders."

The principle was T. D. Oldham's son, W. P. Oldham. The school apparently continued to operate for some years. After the war, in 1867, another Recorder ad (July 17) says:

"This school offers the advantages of health, church advantages, and beautiful location. Special favors granted to disabled confederate veterans."

There is no indication of any connection between Rock Spring Academy and Cane Creek Church. The phrase, "church advantages," and the fact that the principles, Oldham and Cates, were both Cane Creek Church clerks, at least hint at a connection. Unfortunately, the 1867 Recorder ad is the last trace we have of Rock Spring Academy.

In October 1895, the Church called J. F. MacDuffie as its pastor. Two years later and perhaps prompted by the memory of Rock Spring Academy, the Church convened a special meeting. N. A. Cates announced that the purpose was "to establish an Academy at this place." The following resolution was passed:

"That we donate so much of our church lot for the use of an academy and school as may be required for its establishment and use so long as it may be used for this special purpose.

"That the name of this academy is Rock Spring. [Later, it became Orange Grove Academy.]

"That the Church elect annually five trustees to cooperate with the pastor of Cane Creek Church and these to elect two others in the community and ... that the Mt. Zion Association appoint three trustees to cooperate with us. These eleven shall constitute the Board of Trustees of Rock Spring Academy."

The congregation then elected D. F. Crawford, A. P. Cates, W. F. Dodson, N. A. Cates, and T. M. Dodson as the first trustees.

The academy building was constructed during the summer of 1897 and stood just north of the present church. The first class enrolled for the fall term in 1897. Surviving photos show a neat white one story building in the shape of a cross. It probably contained three rooms with the short arm of the cross housing a vestibule. A small cupola with a school bell stood atop the vestibule. In 1906 a new building was constructed. It was a large two-story building with classrooms on the first floor and a spacious auditorium on the second floor. It stood just to the southeast of the present church about where the magnolias are. The original academy building was sold to the Orange County school board to be used as a public school. After the closing of the academy, the large building provided space for our Sunday school until it was torn down in 1949 after the new church was finished.

There is a tradition in the community that may shed some light on Rev. MacDuffie and his school. It is said that he departed Wake Forest in the same year as James Archibald Campbell and that both men had a burning ambition to establish a school. Campbell University now stands as a monument to Campbell's success. MacDuffie is said to have harbored ambitions of turning Orange Grove Academy into a college and that when he felt that community support was lacking he stormed off in a huff. The school closed in 1911.

In a later sketch, I'll describe the school and the community as depicted in school literature. Ed Johnson