In February 1840, it was announced that the first public school in the state had been opened in Rockingham County. Claims to this “first” are best supported by a short announcement which appeared in the North Carolina Standard (Raleigh, NC) on February 12, 1840, and then days later in the Greensborough (NC) Patriot on February 18, 1840, about a year after the NC General Assembly passed important legislation that for the first time meant that the state was committed to public schools. This record congratulated the ten men making up the “superintendency” of the schools for having the county surveyed, marking it off into districts eight miles long and four and a half miles wide and getting the “first free school in Rockingham county… into operation,” “probably the first free school commenced in the State.”  The 1840 announcements reported that the ten school supervisors were Thomas S. Gallaway, Nathan Wright, Thomas B. Wheeler, Robert W. Lawson, John L. Lesuers, Mecajah McGehee, Rawley Gallaway, E. T. Brodnax, Joel Fagg, and James Currie. The article praised these men for the “very able and zealous manner” in which they acted and gave credit to the surveyors, J. G. Wright and E. W. Hancock, for their work.

   Yet many locals have remained unaware of Rockingham County’s achievement as the first in the state to open a public school. In the 1950s, a well-known textbook included the statement, “On January 20, 1840, the first public school in the state was opened in Rockingham County.” In 1959, however, neither local historian Bettie Sue Gardner nor Rockingham County School Superintendent Allan Lewis had heard of this claim, they told a local publication, The Advisor, but both were enthusiastic about identifying the location of the school.

   The establishment of the school in the Williamsburg section in the southeastern corner of the county was later supported in deeds and common school records in the State Archives, and a historical highway marker was erected in the vicinity in 1990.  Additional possible descriptions of the school came from a family narrative that claimed George W. Garrett, a plantation owner near the Rockingham/Caswell line, provided the building and was the school’s first teacher, but this has not been otherwise confirmed.

   The first public school law in 1839 put the question very literally to a vote in each county: “schools or no schools.” If the people voted for schools, they were agreeing not only to a tax to support them, but also to establish oversight through a group of county superintendents. These men would then direct a survey of the county and divide it into districts, identify all eligible school-aged children (ages five through twenty-one), find or build a suitable “school house,” and then receive $40 from state funds for every $20 levied through taxes locally. When this process had been completed, “all white children were to be admitted without payment of any tuition whatever whether they were rich or poor.” Nearly every county in the state promptly voted for schools, with Rockingham County apparently being the first to vote in the affirmative and establish a school. The Rockingham tally was 927 voting yes and 211 opposing. In only six years, every NC county had at least one public school, and by 1850, 2,657 common schools were operating in the state. In 1848, the school chairman reported that Rockingham County had been divided into thirty-five school districts, employed thirty-nine teachers, and operated school houses on average five months out of the year.
References
“Rockingham County and Common Schools,” North Carolina (Raleigh, NC) Standard, February 12, 1840; Greensborough (NC) Patriot, February 18, 1840, 3, UNC Greensboro Digital Collections, http://libcdm1.uncg.edu/cdm/ref/collection/GSOPatriot/id/5911; Hugh Talmage Lefler and Albert Ray Newsome, eds., The History of a Southern State: North Carolina (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1954, 1963, 1973), 368; “Site of First N.C. Public School Is Reported To Be in Rockingham County,” The Advisor, January 1959, 18-19; North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, North Carolina Highway Historical Marker Program, http://www.ncmarkers.com/Markers.aspx?MarkerId=J-94 ; Vance Swift, “First Public Free School,” The State 54, no. 8 (January 1987): 14-15; Charles L. Coon, The Beginnings of Public Education in North Carolina: A Documentary History, 1790-1840, Volume I (Raleigh: Edwards & Broughton Printing Company, 1908), 910, xliv, Documenting the American South, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, http://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/coon976/menu.html; M. C. S. Noble, A History of the Public Schools of North Carolina (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1930), 54; Stephen Beauregard Weeks, “Beginnings of the Common School System in the South,” in Report of the Commissioner for Education, United States Bureau of Education (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1898), 1421-22; “History of Education in North Carolina,” North Carolina State Department of Public Instruction, (1993), 8; Lindley S. Butler, Rockingham County: A Brief History (Raleigh: North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, Division of Archives and History, 1982), 45. Tally of the vote on the school law was reported in the Raleigh (NC) Register, August 17, 1839. 

Proponents of Prohibition in Rockingham County showed strength in January 1920 when the Eighteenth Amendment outlawing the manufacture, sale, and use of alcoholic beverages went into effect nationally.  County residents were not unfamiliar with the vigilance needed to implement Prohibition, as North Carolina had been “dry” since 1909, when a state-wide ban on alcohol (with limited exceptions for medicinal and sacramental use) had been put in place.  More than 100 county residents on the county-wide World Prohibition Movement committees were named in the Reidsville Review in early January.  Led by their chairman J. H. Allen and organized by township, these committees represented every area of Rockingham County and included many prominent businessmen, attorneys, ministers, and educators.  At least two women served on each of the four-person committees, suggesting the widespread involvement of churchwomen and Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) members in the campaign against what Prohibitionists saw as the damaging effects of alcohol on the family and larger community. 
   A meeting of this large contingent of supporters was held in Reidsville at the Commercial and Agricultural (C & A) Hall on January 8, where they were served an oyster dinner and later at a Methodist church where they heard a speech from nationally known Prohibitionist E. S. Shumaker of Indiana.  Recognized for their “faithful and efficient work in organizing and pushing the campaign in Rockingham County,” locals hosted a second speaker on a subsequent Sunday morning.  Speaking at the Main Street Baptist Church in Reidsville, lawyer Wayne P. Wheeler, who was advertised as “the real genius at the bottom of all the prohibition laws in this country,” assured the local authorities that if they were faced with significant illicit alcohol use, especially moonshine stills, that they could appeal to the federal government, which would send as many as 100 agents to “stamp it out.”  
 
   Anti-alcohol forces were also supported in their efforts by the local ministerial association.  After an investigation of a “much talked about New Year’s masquerade ball,” at the C & A hall, Reidsville clergymen were particularly alarmed by the combination of “modern dancing” and drunkenness.  In a statement signed by “each pastor of the town,” they expressed their shock “that in a community like ours it should be possible, in these days of prohibition, for high school boys to get access to intoxicating liquors, yet the evidences are that this very thing has been true.”
References
Hugh Talmage Lefler and Albert Ray Newsome, The History of a Southern State: North Carolina (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1973), 571, 599; William A. Link, North Carolina: Change and Tradition in a Southern State (Wheeling, IL: Harlan Davidson, Inc., 2009), 309-311, 318; “The Prohibitionists To Meet Here,” Reidsville Review, January 6, 1920, 1; “County Launches Big World-Wide Movement,” Reidsville Review, January 13, 1920, 1; “New Distinction for Reidsville,” New York World, January 19, 1920, reprinted in Reidsville Review, January 23, 1920, 4; “Ministers Condemn New Year Dance,” Reidsville Review, January 13, 1920, 1.

The remains of one of Rockingham County’s oldest houses were demolished during the summer of 2019.  The structure was located on the west side of NC Highway 14 near Town Creek one mile south of Bethlehem United Methodist Church.  The old home had been known as the “Nancy Moore Place” for generations.  The property was owned by Barnett Moore and his descendants from 1815 until the 1990s.  
The building is believed to have been erected prior to 1815 when Barnett Moore purchased the 300-acre tract of land.  The property can be traced back to 1779 when Thomas Young entered a claim for the land from the State of North Carolina.  The property was granted to Young on 14 October 1783.  A few months later, on 2 January 1784, Young sold the 300 acres to Andrew Fargis of Halifax County, Virginia.  Fargis probably resided on the property until 1794 when he sold the land to Edward Williams.
In April 1803, Williams sold the 300 acres to Francis Jackson who was formerly of Prince Edward County, Virginia.  During this time span, a number of migrants from that region settled along Town Creek.  The creek provided rich bottomlands that grew excellent crops of corn – the fuel for man and beast during pioneer days.  These family surnames included Moore, Ellington, Forrest, Wesson, Hutherson, Jackson, Guerrant, Wells, Tucker, and perhaps others.
It appears that some members of these families were members of the Methodist Church in Virginia and when they settled on Town Creek, they helped found two new churches in the area.  Mount Carmel United Methodist Church became a class meeting in 1808 and was formally organized in 1813.  Bethlehem United Methodist Church organized in 1835.  Bethlehem was only one mile from Town Creek and the Moore family and other families living in the area became members of that congregation.  Both church congregations are still active.
Francis Jackson settled on the 300-acre farm on Town Creek.  He built a new home there ca 1803 – the house that later became known as the Nancy Moore place.  The construction and architectural style of the Moore house fits that date.  The building was constructed of hewn oak logs covered with weather boards.  (In the mid-twentieth century the exterior of the house was covered with rubber shingles.)  On each end of the building were large stone chimneys.  A portion of the rock used in the construction of the chimneys was quarried stone, which was unusual in Rockingham County at this time. The chimney on the east end of the house collapsed in the 1980s.  The main body of the house had a cellar underneath with the entrance outside next to the east chimney.
The building was one and one-half stories tall.  The main body of the house was divided into two rooms by a plank wall on both the upstairs and downstairs levels.  The two main rooms downstairs were covered by wide board layered in board and batten fashion.  Access to the second floor was by an enclosed stairway in the southwest corner of the room.  The two fireplaces lacked decorative mantle pieces.  The board walls were whitewashed as was the style of the time.
The doors in the building were also of board and batten style and the windows were six over six sashes.  On the north side of the house, two shed rooms were attached to the main body of the house.  By 2011, these two rooms had fallen into ruins.  The nails used in construction of the building were blacksmith made “T” or rose head nails.  A spring encased in a rock form in a nearby hollow furnished water for the house.  Later a well was dug near the house. 
Francis Jackson became one of the leading citizens of Rockingham County.  He was appointed as a Justice of the Rockingham County Court in 1807.  He acquired 499 acres of land in addition to his 300-acre homeplace.  It may be on the larger tract that Jackson owned a grist mill by 1807.  The mill was probably located on Piney Fork, a large tributary of Town Creek and may have been owned originally by David Lovel, one of the pioneer settlers of the area. In 1811, records mention Jackson’s Machine Branch.  It is not clear what type of machinery was in operation at the site.  
Francis Jackson married Elizabeth W. Childress in 1789 in Virginia.  Nine children were born into the family with the last two being born in Rockingham County.  The Jacksons lived in Rockingham County from 1803 until 1811 when the family moved to Williamson County, Tennessee.  Members of the family became prominent citizens in that state.  Francis died on 10 February 1845 in Rutherford County, Tennessee.
Barnett Moore’s roots were in Chesterfield County, Virginia, but by 1803 he had settled into Prince Edward County, Virginia.  About 1806, he moved to the Town Creek area of Rockingham County.  He is listed in the Rockingham census for 1810.  In January 1815, he and his son, Thomas C. Moore, purchased Francis Jackson’s 300-acre farm on Town Creek.  Barnett resided there until 1822 when he died.  He was buried on the farm in what became the Moore Family Cemetery.  His graved is marked by a native stone with his death date cut into the stone.  Moore’s will was probated in May 1825 and he mentions his wife and nine children.  On 5 March 1825, Barnett’s son, Thomas C. Moore, purchased his siblings’ interest in the 300-acre farm for $600.  The half-acre family burying ground was excluded from the sale.  Thomas wrote his will on 29 July 1830 leaving his property to his children.  There is no probate date listed for his will, but other court records show he died in 1833. 
Thomas C. Moore married Mary (Polly) Forrest, daughter of John Forrest (1776-1836).  The Forrest family also came to Rockingham from Prince Edward County, Virginia.  To settle the Moore estate in 1837, Thomas’s brother, John F. Moore, purchased the 300-acre Barnett Moore Farm.  
John F. Moore was born in 1798.  In 1842 he married Nancy Worsham Tucker, for whom the house and farm are referenced. She was the daughter of David Tucker, Jr. and Nancy Worsham Tucker.  Nancy Moore’s sisters and brothers included Patsey Tucker, Elizabeth Tucker Kemp, and Paschal Goodwin Tucker.
John F. Moore was active in the Bethlehem Church and was listed as a church trustee on the deeds in 1835 and 1838.  In the 1850 county census, John’s age was listed as 50 and his wife’s age was listed as 42.  Also listed in the household was Sarah Frances Tucker, age 17.  Sarah Frances was the daughter of Nancy’s brother, Paschal, and Sarah Frances lived with them after her father died.  Sarah Frances married William G. Burton on 27 October 1853.
On 21 August 1851, John F. Moore sold 60 and ½ acres of his farm to John A. Ratliff for $227.00.  Ratliff (1823-1874) lived a short distance west of Bethlehem Church and married Mary E. Moore in 1846.  She was John F. Moore’s niece.
On 28 July 1852, John F. Moore wrote his will leaving his wife, Nancy Tucker Moore, a lifetime right to his now 242-acre farm and bequests to other relatives.  John and wife Nancy had no children.  John died on 9 August 1852. On 6 December 1869, Mary Moore Ratliff (wife of John A. Ratliff) purchased 2/3 interest in the then 242-acre Nancy Moore farm from her siblings.  On 14 February 1880, the widow Nancy sold her interest in the farm to Mary Moore Ratliff for $200.  Nancy continued to live on the farm until her death on 26 June 1889.  She was buried beside her husband, John, in the Moore family cemetery.  In so far as is known, no other members of the Moore family ever lived on the farm after her death.
John A. Ratliff and Mary Moore Ratliff’s youngest daughter, Minnie Cate Ratliff (1868-1902) married James Doyle Mobley.  Their daughter, Eloise Mobley (1897-1973), married her second cousin, Edward C. Moore.  The couple had no surviving children, but Eloise had a brother, James R. Mobley, whose two granddaughters inherited the Nancy Moore Farm.  Eloise had also inherited her uncle Jim J. Ratliff’s interest in the farm in 1937.
Eloise’s husband, Ed, managed farm business for his wife for many years.  The farm was rented to various tenants for nearly seventy-five years.  During the 1930s to 1970s, the Robertson, Stratton, and Hundley families lived in the Nancy Moore house and farmed the land.  By the 1980s the house was abandoned and slowly deteriorated.  There was some interest in moving the building to a new location, but the plans never worked out. 
In 1999, the part of the farm that contained the dilapidated house was sold to a new owner.  It was sold again in 2018, leading to the demolition of the property thereafter.   So, after nearly two hundred years of ownership by descendants of the Moore family, the Nancy Moore house is gone. ​

In the 1920’s, Spray Cotton Mills brought Otto Kirches, a German violinist, to give violin lessons to the children of mill employees. Instead of insisting on a strictly classical approach, he encouraged the students to continue to play their regional tunes. Even adults came to Kirches for lessons and advice. As a result, many local fiddlers, notably Lonnie Austin and Charlie LaPrade, displayed much better technique than was usual in country fiddlers. 

Although this music is often mistakenly called “mountain music,” Rockingham County has been home to many musicians who have made substantial contributions to American music in the fields of folk, old-time music, bluegrass and other forms of traditional music. Their names are usually not known to the general public, but they are held in high esteem by musicians, not only in America but abroad.  

In the 1920’s, banjo player and singer Charlie Poole took his band to New York and recorded “Don’t Let Your Deal Go Down” and “May I Sleep in Your Barn Tonight, Mister?”  This record sold 100,000 copies at a time when 5,000 copies was a hit, and 10,000 copies was giant smash. No classical, jazz, Broadway, or popular artist came close to that.  Because of Charlie’s success, many musicians came to the area to work in the mills and to play music.  Our county became a center for not only traditional country music, but for ragtime, early jazz and Tin Pan Alley tunes.

A partial list of some early musicians based in and around Rockingham County in the 1920's and  1930's includes: Charlie Poole, banjoist and singer; Norman Woodlief, guitarist; Posey Rorer, fiddler; Lonnie Austin, fiddler and pianist; Tyler Meeks, guitarist; Hamon Newman, tenor banjoist; Earl Shirkey, ukulele player and yodeler; Lucy Terry, pianist; Red Patterson, banjoist and singer; Percy Setliff, fiddler; Buster Carter, banjoist; and Preston Young, guitarist and singer. 

In more recent times, banjo player Posey Roach (Eden) played with Flynn Rigney and the Virginia Partners; Alan Shelton was an influential banjo player with Jim Eanes and Jim and Jesse McReynolds, and he was a model for many banjo players all over the country.  Gene Meade (Eden) set the mold for backing up fiddlers with his driving, spectacular guitar styles. (A recently released DVD of the Gene’s appearance at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival has hundreds of young guitarists trying to emulate his style.)

Ruffin native Tim Austin was the founder of the Lonesome River Band and for years ran Doobie Shea Studios, a highly acclaimed recording venue.  
 
Kinney Rorrer, a native of Eden and grandnephew of Charlie Poole and Posey Rorer (*), is noted as a player and singer of Charlie’s songs. He is the author of Ramblin’ Blues the Life and Songs of Charlie Poole, a biography of Charlie Poole. Kinney hosts Back to the Blue Ridge, a radio program on the Roanoke, VA National Public Radio station, 89.1 FM WVTF, airing Saturdays from 8-10 pm and Sundays from 2 to 4 pm.                  (* note the difference in spelling)

Doug Rorrer, Kinney’s brother, has been praised for his singing and his guitar work that echoes Gene Meade and Doc Watson.  He has performed not only in the US, but in England, Scotland, and Italy.  Doug owned and operated Flyin’ Cloud Studios and has produced many highly praised CD’s of old-time, bluegrass, and folk music. 
Doug’s son, Taylor Rorrer, performs professionally, sometimes with Doug and sometimes with other bands. Taylor is widely praised for his work on both guitar and fiddle. 
​
Ivy Sheppard (Bethany) of the highly praised South Carolina Broadcasters (who now live in Mount Airy), is well-known for her authentic fiddling and banjo playing as well as for hosting several radio shows featuring old-time and early bluegrass music.
 
Dr. Don Wright, a dentist in Eden, is a fine banjo player, and has performed and recorded with musicians of the highest skill levels. He also plays guitar and banjo.
​ 
Jesse Smathers of Eden is now the mandolin player/tenor and lead singer with the Lonesome River Band, having previously played with the James King Band and Nothing Fancy. His father Dave Smathers, played for many years with the Campus Tradition, an RCC based band.  The family musical tradition dates back through several generations. 

The late Pat Smith from the Bethany/Monroeton areas kept old-time and bluegrass alive here for many years, playing every instrument in the band, although being best known for his fiddling and banjo playing. Pat’s sons, Terry and Billy, both continue to work in bluegrass. Terry played bass and sang with the Osborne brothers, and is currently with the highly praised band, The Grascals.  Billy is a songwriter. His first cassette had 12 songs, every one of which was recorded by a bluegrass or country artist, an almost unheard-of feat. 

The Moore family from Ruffin has always played not only in family gatherings, but Jason Moore played bass with Mountain Heart and is currently working with the band Sideline. His brother, Darrin is an expert on the music of the Carter Family and plays and sings their music with great skill and authority. He is also an excellent bass player.   

Hubert Lawson and his family band, The Bluegrass Country Boys, are fixtures in the Piedmont NC area bluegrass scene.  

Mandolin and guitar player Ronald Pinnix, as far as can be determined, was the first person to record a flatpick guitar solo in a bluegrass recording. His creative playing influenced many local players. 

There is no way to verify the number of Rockingham County musicians who play regularly in living rooms and kitchens, on porches, in community centers and churches, and at area festivals.  You may receive no public recognition, but you keep the tradition of “our” music alive.  It is MARC’s hope that you (and your friends) will join us at Pickin’ at the MARC on November 9.  It will be a time to share the love of the music, to meet and enjoy the talents of other musicians, and to jam with new friends.  In doing so, you will help to solidify the foundation of Rockingham County’s musical tradition. ​