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Reserve Your Paver now! Through the Engrave-a-Paver program, supporters can place their message on one of several hundred paving stones to surround the "plaza" feature in the front of the renovated building. Click here for more information.

Click here to go to the Scrabble School blog
for up-to-date news and information.

An outstanding example of a "Rosenwald" school, the Scrabble School was built in 1921 to provide improved elementary education to African-American children living in Woodville, Sperryville, Slate Mills, Peola Mills, and surrounding areas. The African-American community provided the bulk of the construction and donated $1,100, with white residents assisting and donating $125. An $800 challenge grant from the Julius Rosenwald Foundation and a contribution from the county completed the total budget of $3,225.

For over 45 years the Scrabble School provided solid early education for many students until ceasing operation with integration in 1967. Alumni recall devoted teachers and rigorous standards.

The building stands on its original site on what is now called Scrabble Road (Route 626) off Route 522. Largely intact on the exterior and interior, the structure required substantial rehabilitation to be suitable for present-day use.

The building is now being adaptively reused as the county's Senior Center. The renovated structure will also incorporate interpretive and historical materials on view to the public that will tell the story of the school, the community it once served, and its place in local, state, and national history.

The rehabilitation project was planned and administered with support from generous community members, the Rappahannock County government, the Rappahannock-Rapidan Community Services Board/Area Agency for the Aging, and the Scrabble School Preservation Foundation, a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization founded in 1995.

Click here to hear VFH Radio's 4-minute story on Scrabble School, aired on public radio in Feburary, 2006.

Craig Barton, an Associate Professor of Architecture at UVa who specializes in helping African-American communities to preserve and interpret their significant cultural resources, visits the building with members of the Scrabble School Board. (Left to right: Professor Barton, Jim Gannon, Bob Lander, and Nan Roberts.)