Stuart Hall School

Last updated

Stuart Hall School
Stuart Hall (Old Main) Staunton VA.JPG
Address
Stuart Hall School
235 W. Frederick St.

,
24401

United States
Information
Type Independent Secondary, Boarding
Established1844;179 years ago (1844)
Head of schoolJason Coady
Grades 612
Average class size15
Campus Urban, 8 Acres
Color(s)Red & White   
Nickname Dragons, Stu
AccreditationVirginia Association of Independent Schools
AffiliationNational Association of Independent Schools
Website Stuart Hall School
Old Main
USA Virginia location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location235 W. Frederick St., Staunton, Virginia
Coordinates 38°9′1″N79°4′36″W / 38.15028°N 79.07667°W / 38.15028; -79.07667
Arealess than one acre
Built1865 (1865)
Architectural styleGreek Revival
NRHP reference No. 74002246 [1]
VLR No.132-0011
Significant dates
Added to NRHPAugust 13, 1974
Designated VLRFebruary 21, 1974 [2]

Stuart Hall School is a Staunton, Virginia, co-educational school for students from Grade 6 to Grade 12, and it offers a boarding program from Grades 8 to 12. Stuart Hall School was established in 1827. The head of the school is Jason Coady. In the school review website Niche, Stuart Hall School was the 34th best private high school in Virginia in 2022. [3]

Contents

History

In 1827, Stuart Hall started as Mrs. Maria Sheffey's school which held classes in her Staunton home - Kalorama. It was called Kalorama Seminary. In 1844, they renamed the school to "Virginia Female Institute." The School was the oldest preparatory school for women in Virginia. [4]

Old Main is a three-story, five-bay, brick Greek Revival style building completed in 1844, which was designed and built by Edwin Taylor. It has a two-story, three-bay, Doric order portico with a simple heavy frieze supported by four-paneled piers. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. It is located in the Newtown Historic District. The school first only had 50 students in 1844. By the year of 1856, the school had grown to over 100 girls attending, including Eleanor Agnes Lee and Anne Custis Lee, daughters of Robert E. Lee.

During the American Civil War, the school's building was used to house the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind while the latter's building was being used as a hospital. Students then attended classes in a nearby home in Staunton.

The school reopened in 1865 after the war. Robert E. Lee served as the president of the board of governors at the school. [5] Mrs. Flora Stuart became to the head of school in 1880. The curriculum expanded from not only English and Religion, to offering a variety of foreign languages, sciences, and mathematics. [6] Later the school changed the name to Stuart Hall taken from the headmaster at the time, Mrs. Flora Cooke Stuart, from 1880-1899 who claimed, "the school’s high character in every department gives it an enviable name among schools." [7]

In 1992, the Middle School was opened, serving male and female day students in Grades 6 to 8. In 1999, boys were accepted as day students into the Upper School. In 2007, Stuart Hall School merged with Hunter McGuire School in Verona, VA, and again became a K-12 independent school. A prekindergarten class was added in 2008. In 2020 the school decided to "phase out" the lower grades and by 2023 will serve students in grades 6-12. The Hunter McGuire Lower School was sold in 2021.

Traditions

Traditions at Stuart Hall School can be traced to the school's founding. The traditions include a variety of events, such as athletic competitions, school celebrations, class activities, etc. [8] [ better source needed ]

Red and White Competition

The Stuart Hall School community has been divided into two teams since the 19th century - Red and White. Throughout the school year, competitions take place during Red and White Field Day. The team with a higher score will gain a trophy and special rights. Incoming students will randomly pick their colors from a box in the Red and White ceremony at the beginning of the school year. Students who have parents or siblings who are "legacy" have the privilege to choose their "legacy" color. Each team's leaders are seniors who have the power to lead the team as a whole in the competitions and activities. [8]

Honor Code Signing

In a chapel ceremony at the beginning of each school year, all students sign the Honor Code. [8]

Ring Ceremony

Ring Ceremony occurs in the fall of each school year when seniors are given their school ring, a black onyx engraved with "SH." The ring was designed in the 1920s. [8]

Loving Cup Ceremony/Ushers

Each senior picks an usher and a sub-usher to participate and accompany in these special ceremonies throughout the year. An usher is a Stuart Hall School student, and a sub-usher is an alumnus in good standing. Ushers use garlanded shepherd's crooks to form an arch for seniors to process during the Graduation ceremony. Sub-ushers toast their seniors in the Loving Cup ceremony, the night before Graduation. [8]

Notable alumni

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martinsville, Virginia</span> Independent city in Virginia, United States

Martinsville is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 13,485. A community of both Southside and Southwest Virginia, it is the county seat of Henry County, although the two are separate jurisdictions. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Martinsville with Henry County for statistical purposes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matriculation</span> Entering a university

Matriculation is the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by fulfilling certain academic requirements such as a matriculation examination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agnes Scott College</span> Womens liberal arts college in Decatur, Georgia

Agnes Scott College is a private women's liberal arts college in Decatur, Georgia. The college enrolls approximately 1,000 undergraduate and graduate students. The college is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church and is considered one of the Seven Sisters of the South. It also offers co-educational graduate programs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Staunton, Virginia</span> Independent city in Virginia, United States

Staunton is an independent city in the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 25,750. In Virginia, independent cities are separate jurisdictions from the counties that surround them, so the government offices of Augusta County are in Verona, which is contiguous to Staunton. Staunton is a principal city of the Staunton-Waynesboro Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had a 2010 population of 118,502. Staunton is known for being the birthplace of Woodrow Wilson, the 28th U.S. president, and as the home of Mary Baldwin University, historically a women's college. The city is also home to Stuart Hall, a private co-ed preparatory school, as well as the Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind. It was the first city in the United States with a fully defined city manager system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Hugh Holmes Stuart</span> American politician

Alexander Hugh Holmes Stuart was a prominent Virginia lawyer and American political figure associated with several political parties. Stuart served in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly, as a U.S. Congressman (1841–1843), and as the Secretary of the Interior (1850–1853). Despite opposing Virginia's secession and holding no office after finishing his term in the Virginia Senate during the American Civil War, after the war he was denied a seat in Congress. Stuart led the Committee of Nine, which attempted to reverse the changes brought by Reconstruction. He also served as rector of the University of Virginia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Baldwin University</span> Private university in Staunton, Virginia, U.S.

Mary Baldwin University is a private university in Staunton, Virginia. It was founded in 1842 as Augusta Female Seminary. Today, Mary Baldwin University is home to the Mary Baldwin College for Women, a residential women's college with a focus on liberal arts and leadership, as well as co-educational residential undergraduate programs within its University College structure. MBU also offers co-educational graduate degrees as well as undergraduate degree and certificate programs for non-traditional-aged students.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Staunton Military Academy</span> School

Staunton Military Academy was a private all-male military school located in Staunton, Virginia. Founded in 1884, the academy closed in 1976. The school was highly regarded for its academic and military programs, and many notable American political and military leaders are graduates, including Sen. Barry Goldwater, the 1964 Republican presidential candidate, and his son, Rep. Barry Goldwater Jr., 1960's folk singer Phil Ochs, and John Dean, a White House Counsel who was a central figure in the Watergate scandal of the early 1970s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University Chapel</span> United States historic place

University Chapel of Washington and Lee University is a National Historic Landmark in Lexington, Virginia. It was constructed during 1867–68 at the request of Robert E. Lee, who was president of the school, and after whom the university is, in part, named. The Victorian brick architectural design was probably the work of Lee's son, George Washington Custis Lee, with details contributed by Col. Thomas Williamson, an architect and professor of engineering at the neighboring Virginia Military Institute. Upon completion and during Robert E. Lee's lifetime it was known as the College Chapel. Lee was buried beneath the chapel in 1870.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keswick, Virginia</span> Unincorporated community in Virginia, United States

Keswick is a Census-designated place in Albemarle County, Virginia, United States, about six miles east of Charlottesville.

Riverheads High School is a public school located in Augusta County, Virginia. Riverheads is the home of the Gladiators. Riverheads High School was built in 1962 to accommodate 600 students. Located at Routes 11 and 701, ten miles south of Staunton, it is one of five high schools serving Augusta County. A six-classroom wing was added in 1976 to provide for increased enrollment and additional course offerings. An eight million dollar program, completed in 1997, provided renovation with improved and expanded instructional, athletic, and support facilities. Riverheads is nestled in an historic area. In the vicinity are the Hessian House, McCormick’s Grist Mill, and Old Providence Church. Nearby three major highways converge: I-81, U.S. 11, and Route 340. Students are transported by buses covering an area which extend eighteen miles at certain points. Forming the school community are areas such as Moffatts Creek, McKinley, Newport, Vesuvius, Mint Spring, Middlebrook, Greenville, Spottswood, Lofton, White Hill, Jollivue, and the southern sections of both the Stuarts Draft area and the Beverley Manor District. Membership in recent times has varied from a high of 729 in 1978-79 to 420 in 1991-92. Many parents are employed in agriculture, industry-labor trade, and services. A majority are high school graduates and about one-fourth have education beyond high school. The student body is stable; about 90 percent of the senior class have been at Riverheads all their high school experience. Academically, the students compare well with other students in the nation on achievement tests, scoring above the norms for the South in SAT scores. Over half of the senior class typically continue their education beyond high school. The school is accredited by the State Board of Education and by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. In 2015, Riverheads High School was recognized as a Blue Ribbon School by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Only seven schools in Virginia were awarded this prestigious title in 2015. While the community is a growing industrial area, agriculture remains important to the school community. Varied cultural and recreational opportunities, good medical services, including those for the disabled and mentally or emotionally disturbed, community employment and guidance services, varied transportation and communication services, many churches and service clubs to meet the religious and civic needs, and a number of educational facilities for advanced or specialized training are all available nearby.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind</span> Public school in Virginia, United States

The Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind, located in Staunton, Virginia, United States, is an institution for educating deaf and blind children, first established in 1839 by an act of the Virginia General Assembly. The school accepts children aged between 2 and 22 and provides residential accommodation for those students aged 5 and over who live outside a 35-mile (56 km) radius of the school

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fishburne Military School</span> Private, military boarding school in Waynesboro, Virginia, United States

Fishburne Military School (FMS) is a private, military boarding school for boys in Waynesboro, Virginia, United States. It was founded by James A. Fishburne in 1879 and is one of the oldest military schools in the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Columbia University traditions</span>

Columbia University has developed many traditions over its 269-year-long existence, most of them associated with its oldest undergraduate division, Columbia College.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temple House of Israel</span> Jewish congregation in Staunton, Virginia, U. S.

Temple House of Israel is a Jewish congregation in Staunton, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1876 by Major Alexander Hart, it originally held services in members' homes, then moved to a building on Kalorama street in 1885, the year it joined the Union for Reform Judaism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Staunton High School</span> School in Staunton, Virginia, United States

Staunton High School is a public high school in Staunton, Virginia, United States. It is a part of Staunton City Schools, a public school district that also includes three elementary schools, a middle school, and an alternative education program.

Thomas Jasper Collins, commonly known as T. J. Collins, was an American architect. He served in the Union Army during the American Civil War and later became an architect, practicing first in Washington, D.C., before moving to Staunton, Virginia in 1890. His firm became T. J. Collins & Sons which continued to operate in the 1990s under the management of Collins' grandson. He is credited with the design of numerous courthouses in Virginia and over 200 buildings in Staunton from 1891 to 1911. T.J. Collins retired in 1911; the firm was then run by his sons William and Samuel Collins.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stuart House (Staunton, Virginia)</span> Historic house in Virginia, United States

Stuart House is a historic home located at Staunton, Virginia. The original portion of the house was built in 1791, and is a story, temple-form brick structure fronted by a two-level pedimented portico supported by four very simple and provincial Tuscan order-like columns. The house is five bays wide and three bays deep. The house has a large 2+12-story brick wing added in 1844. The wing is fronted by a gallery ornamented with lattice-work and supported on brick piers. Also on the property is a gambrel roof frame building, erected sometime after 1783 as Archibald Stuart's residence and law office, and a pyramidal roof smokehouse. According to family tradition, Stuart received plans or suggestions for the house's design from his close friend, Thomas Jefferson. Archibald Stuart died in 1832 and the house was inherited by his son, Alexander Hugh Holmes Stuart (1807-1891).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gospel Hill Historic District</span> Historic district in Virginia, United States

Gospel Hill Historic District is a national historic district located at Staunton, Virginia. The district encompasses 180 contributing buildings in a primarily residential section of Staunton. The district is characterized by an abundance of fine homes, ranging in size from cottages to mansions and dating from 1840 to 1930. The buildings include distinguished examples of a century of architectural styles from Greek Revival to Bungalow. Notable buildings include "Kalorama", "Capote" (1905), Effinger House, and Temple House of Israel (1925). Located in the district are the separately listed Woodrow Wilson Birthplace, Catlett House, Arista Hoge House, J. C. M. Merrillat House, Thomas J. Michie House, Oakdene, and The Oaks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newtown Historic District (Staunton, Virginia)</span> Historic district in Virginia, United States

Newtown Historic District is a national historic district located at Staunton, Virginia. The district encompasses 414 contributing buildings and 2 contributing sites in a primarily residential section of Staunton. The district includes some late 18th- and early 19th-century structures, but most of the homes were built between 1870 and 1920 during Staunton's boom years. The buildings range from Jeffersonian Neo-Classical and Greek Revival to bungalows of the 1920s. Notable buildings include Stuart Hall's Cochran House (1858), Robertson House (1886), the Smith Thompson House, and the George M. Cochran House. The magnificent grounds of Thornrose Cemetery are also included in the district. Located in the district are the separately listed Stuart Hall School, Stuart House, and Trinity Episcopal Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nell Zink</span> US writer and media scholar

Helen "Nell" Louise Zink is an American writer living in Germany. After being a long term penpal of Avner Shats, she came to prominence in her fifties with the help of Jonathan Franzen and her novel, Mislaid, was longlisted for the National Book Award. Her debut The Wallcreeper was released in the United States by the independent press Dorothy and named one of 100 notable books of 2014 by The New York Times, as was Mislaid. Zink then released Nicotine, Private Novelist and Doxology through Ecco Press. In 2022 she published Avalon, again a New York Times notable book, with Alfred A. Knopf.

References

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. "Virginia Landmarks Register". Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Retrieved March 19, 2013.
  3. "Explore: Stuart Hall School". Niche. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  4. "National Register of Historical Places" (PDF). National Register Information System. August 13, 1974. Retrieved February 9, 2022.
  5. Culbertson, Charles. "Was Robert E. Lee ever in Staunton?". The News Leader. Retrieved February 9, 2022.
  6. "National Register of Historical Places" (PDF). National Register Information System. August 13, 1974. Retrieved February 9, 2022.
  7. "History of the School". History. Retrieved January 22, 2022.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 "Traditions". Traditions. Retrieved January 22, 2022.
  9. Lee, Agnes (November 9, 2000). Growing Up in the 1850s: The Journal of Agnes Lee. ISBN   9780807867761 . Retrieved February 24, 2022.
  10. "Juliette Gordon Low". www.robinsonlibrary.com. Archived from the original on June 5, 2013. Retrieved March 7, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  11. McCaffrey, Todd J. (1999). Dragonholder (1st ed.). New York: Ballantine. pp. 24, 31. ISBN   0-345-42217-1. OCLC   41400831.
  12. Richard T. Cox. "Shelby Shackelford - Biography". Askart. Retrieved September 4, 2021.
  13. "Nell Zink's The Wallcreeper – Dorothy". dorothyproject.com. Retrieved March 7, 2021.