Home

About the Foundation

News

About Rosenwald Schools

directions

contact us

GOSPELFEST '08 was held on September 20 at Rappahannock County High School. Performers included: Richard Brady, David Clanagan, Nanette Roberts, George Banks, Promise Land Baptist Church Men's Chorus, Rev. Anna Allsberry and David's Heart, the Reynold's Memorial Church Praise Team.

A radio piece on Scrabble School aired on public radio stations around the state in February, 2006. Produced at WMRA in Harrisonburg for VFH radio, a project of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, the 4-minute story can be heard here.

BACK ISSUES OF "THE SCRABBLE SCHOOL CHALKBOARD":

August 2008 Just added!
May 2008
May 2007
March 2006
July-October 2005
March 2005

August, 2008: In 2007, Gavin Forest, a member of the Rappahannock County Troop 36, Boy Scouts of America, presented a plan to the Foundation’s Board of Directors to design and install a place for the county’s seniors to relax and meditate while enjoying nature. The Directors, the County and the BSA accepted his proposal for his Eagle Scout Project. Over the past few months, Gavin, with the help of members of Troop 36, installed the “quiet place” in the northwest corner of the 2-acre site. This is the first permanent installation to be erected and is now an integral part of the landscape plan for the community park area at the Scrabble School site. Thanks Gavin and Troop 36! The county’s seniors will visit the “quiet place” on August 21

April, 2008: the Foundation is delighted to announce that the The Lowe's Charitable and Educational Foundation has awarded a $50,000 grant to the Scrabble School Preservation Foundation for rehabilitation of the school. Lowe's has contributed $1 million, through a partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, to help preserve Rosenwald schools, called "iconic landmarks of African American history." Lowe's and the National Trust are working together to identify "lost" schools and restore them as much as possible, often as they sit on the brink of complete destruction. See the recent article from the Rappahannock News and the National Trust's press center for more information.

News Flash! November 26, 2007: A Local Innovation Grant in the amount of $200,000 has been awarded by the Virginia Department of Housing & Community Development. We are within $100,000 of our $450,000 goal. To donate funds and help close the gap, click here.

In other grant news: The Northern Piedmont Community Foundation's board has voted to award $7,500 from their Meade Palmer Memorial Fund for Scrabble School's landscaping and walking trails.

Palmer, a notable landscape architect in Warrenton, taught at UVA and designed phenomenal projects from the Boar’s Head Inn to the National Cathedral. This is the first grant from the fund his family created to honor him.

Open House held October 20-21, 2007. Talk with alumni and friends of the school, experience a "moment in Rappahannock history," and learn more about the planned Heritage Center and Senior Center. The School will be open 11a.m.-4 p.m. both days.

September, 2007: The Foundation has received a second generous grant, in the amount of $5,000 from the Jesse and Rose Loeb Foundation, for construction costs. Many thanks to the Loeb Foundation for this much-needed support.

Bob Lander, President of the Scrabble School Preservation Foundation, announced that the School received recognition earlier this month as an "irreplaceable historic resource" of the commonwealth by the Department of Historic Resources. The Scrabble School will soon be listed in The Virginia Landmarks Registry, and is recommended by the State Review Board for inclusion on The National Register of Historic Places. Lander noted, "the Rappahannock League for Environmental Protection and a local anonymous contributor made this recognition possible by supporting the work of Jennifer Hallock, an Architectural Historian with Arcadia Preservation, who prepared the nomination."

August, 2007: The Foundation is delighted that the Northern Piedmont Community Foundation chose Scrabble School as the focus of its annual project appeal. Its supporters have so far contributed nearly $3000 towards construction costs.

July, 2007: THE Scrabble School Oral History/ Community Mapping Project Presentation at the RappFlow offices was a great success. Thanks to Scot French for his presentation on the history of the school; Bev Hunter and Averill Ring for the wonderful maps and website; and Ron Vickers for his work printing the maps. Special thanks to Bob Anderson and Marti Lander for finding Scrabble School on the 1959 USGS aerial photos of the county!

March, 2007: A state grant in the amount of $12,500 has been received through the good offices of Virginia Senator Obenshain and Representative Gilbert.

A $15,000 challenge grant has been pledged by the Marietta M. & Samuel Tate Morgan Jr. Foundation of Richmond. The grant must be matched one-for-one, and all the funds for the project must be in-hand or pledged, by April, 2008, in order to receive the grant.

Fridays at Scrabble School were "Soup Day," when parents brought in pots of hot homemade soup for the children. October 28, 2006, was Scrabble School Homecoming and Tour—Soup Day! Dozens of supporters and alumni headed down to the school and enjoyed the homemade soup made by Foundation board members. Castleton artist Tom Tepper was on hand to sign framed copies of the special print he created to honor Scrabble School (free with a $50 donation). Architects Craig Barton and Chris Fannin discussed plans for renovation and landscaping of the building, which will be the Rappahannock County Senior Center.

With the assistance and collaboration of the Center for the Study of Local Knowledge at UVA’s Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American and African Studies, the Scrabble School Preservation Foundation has undertaken a project to investigate and document the history of Scrabble School in Rappahannock County, Virginia. The Center for the Study of Local Knowledge is a Ford Foundation grant-funded initiative that seeks to bridge the traditional divide between universities and local communities by creating new models for intellectual and social exchange between academic and lay scholars. In August, 2006, the Center's historians began collecting oral histories from Scrabble alumni. These will eventually be transcribed and edited, and available for public viewing at the renovated school building.

August, 2006: The Foundation has received a generous grant from the Jesse and Rose Loeb Foundation. The Rappahannock-Rapidan Community Services Board/Area Agency for the Aging is supporting our fundraising efforts.

July, 2006: Jennifer Hallock of Arcadia Preservation is preparing a National Historic Landmark nomination, thanks to support from an anonymous local donor. (photo: Scrabble School when newly built.)

June 5, 2006: Special thanks to Tom, Will and Clay of the Rappahannock County High School Geospatial Technologies class for their hard work in creating maps portraying the history of Scrabble School and its alumni! Final maps will be posted on this site....

Gospel Fest" fundraiser held on April 29, 2006, at the Theatre in Little Washington was a great success! Many thanks to the Theatre and to RAAC for their support. Click here for Rappahannock News coverage of the event.

The Rappahannock Association for the Arts and the Community (RAAC) and the Scrabble School Preservation Foundation co-sponsored an information and discussion program on “Scrabble School: Respect for the Past, a Dream for the Future” on Friday, January 13, 2006 at 8 PM at Rappahannock County Public Library. At the presentation, Scot French, interim director of UVA’s Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American and African Studies and co-director of the UVA Center for the Study of Local Knowledge, told the story of Isaiah Wallace, an African-American native of Rappahannock who initiated and successfully organized the post-WWI campaigns to build Rosenwald Schools in Scrabble and Culpeper. Craig Barton, Professor of Architecture at UVA, and architectural historian Jacky Taylor presented information about ongoing efforts to document, commemorate and preserve other African-American school sites in Virginia.

December, 2005: The Foundation is grateful to the Alice T. Rosenwald Fund for a $5,000 grant in support of preliminary architectural design services. Matching funds are being sought for the grant.

MANY THANKS TO ALL WHO ATTENDED THE HOMECOMING AND "HISTORY HARVEST" ON SATURDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2005!

SPECIAL THANKS TO THE RAPPAHANNOCK COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS FOR VOTING ON NOVEMBER 7, 2005, TO SUPPORT THE FOUNDATION'S PLAN TO REHABILITATE SCRABBLE SCHOOL AS THE RAPPAHANNOCK COUNTY SENIOR CENTER.