Laurel Grove School Museum

Laurel Grove School Museum

1881 -

Laurel Grove School was built by freed men and women in the 1880s to educate their children. Today the one room school is a museum sharing the history of African American families who built the school, furnished it, provided books, and hired the first teacher. Land was deeded by William and Georgiana Jasper to the Mt. Vernon School District, but the district only provided one cord of wood each school term.
The museum has artifacts, exhibits, land deeds, resource documents, and video recordings of some students who attended the school from 1928-1932. Elementary, Middle and High school students and teachers visit annually.

William Jasper

Georgiana Jasper

6840 Beulah Street Franconia, Virginia 22310

Franconia

Laurel Grove Colored School And Church

Inscription. In the early 1880s, former slaves organized a congregation and held church services near a grove of laurel on Beulah Road. The trustees, including Middleton Braxton, George Carroll, Thornton Gray, and William Jasper, were focused on educating the children of the congregation. In 1881, Georgianna and William Jasper, a former slave of William Hayward Foote of Hayfield Plantation, deeded one-half acre from his thirteen-acre farm to the segregated Virginia School System for $10.00. The school served the community until 1932. In 1884, the Jaspers deeded another half-acre for construction of a sanctuary next to the school.

Carrolltown

Location: near Kingstowne Center Shopping Center furthers the story of Laurel Grove School and Church.

Text: Between 1899-1903 George Carroll purchased 121 acres adjacent to the original 10 acres bequeathed to him by Dennis Johnston, owner of his mother, Jane. By 1918 Carroll had sold 51 acres to family including the Kelly, Baker, Carter, Harris, Horad and Carroll families. The prosperous community Carrolltown that developed here consisted of these extended family units. These families, who were committed to the community’s success, donated lumber from

Carrolltown to build the Laurel Grove School and Church. Children from Carrolltown attended the school. George Carroll was a respected community member, a licensed business owner, and a trustee at the Laurel Grove Church.

The museum is open Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, 10:00AM-2:00PM Website: www.laurelgroveschool.org email: contact@laurelgroveschool.org Both Laurel Grove Church and School are listed on the Fairfax County Inventory of Historic Sites. Laurel Grove School Museum First Generation Born to Freedom Hear from Former Students - http://www.laurelgroveschool.org/about/HearStudents.html Teaching with the Laurel Grove School Lesson Plans - Examples - Growing Up in a Segregated Society, Founding of the Laurel Grove School and, The Daily Experience of the Laurel Grove School https://chnm.gmu.edu/laurelgrove/about

Photo by Mary Lipsey