In
later years, it served as the lunchroom for the high school and
after that, as an auxiliary classroom building for the local
county community college. It is now being preserved and
used as a museum. The building is a county landmark and a
treasure to all that love the “Ye Olde Academy”.
At the close of the
Reconstruction Era a group of Pantego area citizens, realizing
the need for education in the Pantego area, formed the Pantego
Educational Association in 1874 and began raising the money
necessary for the construction of the Academy building. On
November 10, 1877, the Pantego Educational Association received
a deed for one acre of land on which the Academy was erected.
This two-story structure, which is the same as the back portion
of the present Academy building, served as the educational
institution for older children, age twelve through nineteen,
both male and female, and was named Pantego Male and Female
Academy. It is thought the Pantego Male and Female Academy was
one of the first schools in North Carolina to offer education to
females and males together.
The new Academy was a
‘subscription school’ providing tuition for per-course fees.
There were twenty-seven paid tuitions the first semester. From
1877 through 1886, the Academy was reasonably solvent. In 1879
a group of young ladies raised enough money to purchase a bell
and the principal was authorized to obtain one weighing one
hundred pounds. The belfry was built in 1902.
From 1887 until 1900 the
history of the school is almost unknown. By the latter part of
1900, continuity of school operations had regressed to the
extent that people realized there was a need to restore the
Academy to its former educational prestige. Heroic efforts by
outside sources saved the school.
Until 1907, the Academy
building had been owned by individuals; later that year it was
purchased by the county. Passage of a school district bond in
1910 provided funding to add the front wings, columned portico,
and the signature exterior rounded staircase.
The Pantego Male and Female
Academy ceased to exist in the spring of 1907 when the building
was purchased by the Beaufort County Board of Education and
became a public school. It then became known as Pantego High
School and opened as a free public school for grades 1-11 in the
fall of 1907, using the Academy building as its location.
The first graduating class of
Pantego High School was in 1911. Four students graduated. This
was the first of fourteen Pantego High School graduating classes
that were housed in the Academy building (1911-1925). In 1925,
a new two-story brick building to house high school age students
was constructed. The new building was located adjacent and to
the left of the Academy building. As a result, the Academy
building was then used for elementary students and was known as
the elementary school.
Around 1927, a wing was added
to the back of the two-story brick high school building and
elementary age children began having classes in this part.
Since the Academy building was no longer being used specifically
for educational classes, various other uses began at this time.
Around 1944, the ground floor of the Academy building was
remodeled inside and became the lunchroom for Pantego High
School. It continued in this use until 1964 when a new
single-level brick "cafeteria" was constructed and located
between the Academy building and the brick Pantego High School
building.
In 1966, the Academy building
was given to the Pantego High School Alumni Association, Inc. by
the Beaufort County Board of Education.
In the 1980's, a group of
citizens became interested in saving the vandalized Academy
building. As a result, the building was placed on the National
Register of Historic Places in 1984. Their dedicated efforts
saved the building but time and age took its toll on this
group.
Beaufort County Community
College used the building from 1989-1992 as an auxiliary
classroom. By the year 2000, the Academy building had been
unoccupied and not used for several years.
In June, 2004, a meeting was
called for the purpose of deciding what to do with money that
had been left by a benefactor specifically for the preservation
of the Academy building. Subsequent meetings were held but
definitive action could not been taken because of the
restrictions of the by-laws of the Pantego High School Alumni
Association, Inc.
In July, 2005, an article in
the Washington Daily News suggested that the Academy
building might be sold or destroyed. Interested people asked
permission from the Board of Directors of the alumni association
to begin cleaning the Academy building. In August, September,
and October, 2005, a massive clean-up project of the neglected
building began. At the same time, and beginning with the
August, 2005 meeting, a re-organization of the alumni
association occurred and on February 25, 2007, the alumni
association became known as the Pantego Academy Historical
Museum Association, Inc. The Academy building is now owned by
the museum association.
The Pantego Academy
Historical Museum Association, Inc. is a 501(c) (3) non-profit
organization. The stated purposes of the association according
to its by-laws are the preservation of the original Pantego
Academy building; collecting and preserving Pantego High School
memorabilia; establishing a Pantego area historical museum; and
assisting in local preservation.
A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Eastern
North Carolina
By Catherine W. Bishir and Michael T. Southern, UNC Press, 1996:
“The small farming and milling community on Pantego Creek was
settled by the early 19th c. with a post office at
the site as early as 1828. It retains a good collection of late
19th- and early 20th-c. houses and public
buildings. The chief landmark is Pantego Academy (1875, early
20th c.; Academy St., just N of US 264), an important
regional institution founded as a private school. The original
2-story frame building was enlarged in the early 20th
c. to its present 9-bay, hip-roof form with a 2-story ell, one
of the state’s largest and best-preserved wooden school
buildings of the period. Sheltered by the 2-story porch of
slender columns is a striking double stair of wishbone form with
solid balustrade rising to a second-story entrance. The academy
became part of the public school system in 1907, and a 2-story
brick school was built next door about 1931. The older building
is preserved by an alumni association.”
Hours of Operation:
Saturday & Sunday
2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Other Times
By Appointment Contact:
Amy K.Noble 252.945.4102 
Email:
amynoble@gotricounty.com
John Ratcliff
252.943.2165 Email:
johnenc@gotricounty.com
Admission Fees:
Free – Donations Accepted
About the
Facilities
