South Lowell Academy [1]

South Lowell Academy

by Jean B. Anderson, 2006

[2]South Lowell Academy was the inspiration of John Archibald McMannen, a lay preacher of the Methodist Church [3], and his close friend, Claiborn Parrish. With a board of trustees made up of themselves and three local physicians, McMannen and Parrish established a classical academy at South Lowell in what is today Durham County [4] in 1849. Its first headmaster was the Reverend James A. Dean, a graduate of Wesleyan College [5] in Connecticut, who gave the school a luster it maintained even after his departure for larger arenas.

A brick dormitory for the students who flocked there from all parts of the state, as well as a hotel, were soon added to the school, mills, and general store that made up the community. A preparatory school for Randolph-Macon College [6], the academy became a cultural center with a library, lecture program, debating and temperance societies, and the electrifying preaching of McMannen, who could also play the fiddle. In 1856 Edward Scott added to the school's attraction with a medical school.

The general poverty caused by the Civil War [7] and its aftermath depleted South Lowell's pool of applicants, though the school continued at least until 1897, when it was still listed in the state business directory.

Reference:

Jean B. Anderson, Durham County (1990). [8]

Image Credit:

John Archibald McMannen House, in South Lowell community of Durham. Image courtesy of Endangered Durham. Available from http://endangereddurham.blogspot.com/2009_03_01_archive.html [2] (accessed November 5, 2012).

Subjects:

Antebellum (1820-1861) [9]

Education [10]

Schools (K-12) [11]

UNC Press [12]

Authors:

Anderson, Jean B. [13]

Origin - location:

Durham [14]

From:

Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press. [15]

1 January 2006 | Anderson, Jean B.