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Farming For A Better Future, page 308
(Above) Photograph of Blue Ridge School, 2017 (Courtesy Col. James L. Walker)
This building cost a total of $3,425, of which $250 came from the African American community, $2,675 from public funds, and $500 from Rosenwald. Due to the previous fire, the new schoolhouse was insured for $2,380.
In 1944, the school converted one of the cloakrooms into a kitchen and served hot lunches to raise funds for the school. This is the only African American school known to have a lunch room. Until this service started, students would eat at Mr. Buster McLin's store where they could “buy a dime worth of bologna
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Thatch and Mann Cemetery
This large cemetery is situated at the intersection of Jacobs and Bullington roads west of Athens. Although the cemetery contains approximately 1,000 burials as of 2017, an aerial photograph indicates it is less than halfway full. Alam Oreva Stuart (1922-1923) is the earliest known burial, although the cemetery does not appear on topographic maps until 1958. Among the people buried here are Etta Wynn Coble (18921979), one of the teachers at Pleasant Grove School, and her husband, Ennis C. Coble (1890-1942).
1940. Additional landowning couples buried together include Claude (1899-1981) and Naomi Kirk (19001995), Less (1882-1943) and Mattie Sowell Lincoln (1886-1951), Will (1912-1987) and Marie McDade (born 1915), and Robert E. (1886-1966) and Mary Nance (1879-1965).
(Below) 1958 Topographic Map Showing the Location of the Thatch and Mann Cemetery (Bottom) Aerial Photograph Showing the Thatch and Mann Cemetery
and crackers, a cold drink and some lemon cookies, all for a quarter.”
As of 1947, enrollment at the school in Tanner increased to 70 students. The teachers at that time were Mrs. Myrtle B. McLin of Tanner, who was also the principal, and Ms. Josephine Higgins. Other teachers throughout the years were Mrs. McLin, Mrs. Betty Sue McDaniel, and Mrs. Josephine Woodson. The school taught the Three R's as well as cultural classes that included singing Mexican and Italian songs. The school building still remains but has been converted into a private residence in Tanner.
Others interred here include African Americans who owned farms on the outskirts of Athens around 1940. These include, Mahaley Heard (1890-1963), whose husband Robert farmed his own land from at least 1930 to 1940, and James R. David (1887-1963) and his wife Katie, who owned a farm on Elkmont Road in 1930 and 1940. One of the few women who headed a household and owned a farm in 1940 is Beulah Howard (1900-1974). Other individuals buried in the cemetery are World War I veteran Milton V. Redus (1894-1970) and his wife Mattie Malone
Redus (1895-1985), who owned a farm in - (4836)