05/31/2026
What can a photograph teach us about a community?
Take a close look at Whitmer School at Fulks Run. The corn shocks, rail fence, and woodpile tell us this school stood in the middle of a farming landscape. If the photographer had backed up a few more feet, he or she would have stepped into the North Fork. This wasn't a school surrounded by parking lots and athletic fields. It was part of the daily rhythm of rural life.
Now notice what is missing. There are no electric lines, school buses, playgrounds, cafeterias, or water fountains. Students walked to school, and some crossed the river on a swinging bridge to get there. Water for the school was carried by bucket from a nearby house.
Inside, one teacher—usually a woman—taught 30 to 40 students of different ages in a single room. She kept the wood stove burning through the winter, taught every subject, ordered library books, organized holiday programs, and even led nature hikes to identify local birds. The demands were many, but so were the expectations.
Pat Turner Ritchie's new book, "Brocks Gap Schools: Bergton, Criders, and Fulks Run," preserves the stories of more than 40 one- and two-room schools that served generations of Shenandoah Valley families.
Join us for Ask an Author at Rocktown History on Friday, June 5, at 10:30 a.m., and discover how education shaped life in one of the Valley's most distinctive communities.
