Settlement schools are social reform institutions established in rural Appalachia in the early 20th century with the purpose of educating mountain children and improving their isolated rural communities. Settlement schools have played an important role in preserving and promoting the cultural heritage of southern and central Appalachia. Scholar David Whisnant has argued that settlement schools created a version of "traditional" Appalachian culture that appealed to outsiders but had little basis in the values of Appalachian people themselves.Judy Flavell
Settlement Schools and the Culture of the Mountains
KET-TV website, accessed August 3, 2010

History

The Appalachian settlement schools were inspired by the settlement movement that started in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in the late 19th century and was represented in the United States by urban settlement houses, including Hull House in

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and the

Henry Street Settlement The Henry Street Settlement is a not-for-profit social service agency in the Lower East Side neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City that provides social services, arts programs and health care services to New Yorkers of all ages. It was founde ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

.Mission and History
, Hindman Settlement School website A large fraction of settlement schools were founded as

Christian mission A Christian mission is an organized effort for the propagation of the Christian faith. Missions involve sending individuals and groups across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries, to carry on evangelism or other activities, such as ...

s and had a religious purpose in addition to a social welfare purpose. Possibly the earliest manifestation of the settlement movement in southern Appalachia was the Log Cabin Settlement near Asheville, North Carolina, started in September 1894 by Susan Chester. Chester, a graduate of

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely foll ...

, had experience with urban settlements in the northeastern United States. She considered the people of rural Appalachia to be "the purest Americans to be found" and envisioned her Log Cabin Settlement as an opportunity to "revive the weaving industry... and provide a good library for the community" in cooperation with a mission chapel and district school.

Hindman Settlement School Hindman Settlement School is a settlement school located in Hindman, Kentucky in Knott County. Established in 1902, it was the first rural settlement school in America.

, in Hindman, Kentucky, is considered the first rural social settlement school in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, established in 1902 by May Stone and Katherine Pettit at the forks of Troublesome Creek in

Knott County, Kentucky Knott County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 14,251. Its county seat is Hindman. The county was formed in 1884 and is named for James Proctor Knott, Governor of Kentucky (1883–188 ...

. The women's fraternity Pi Beta Phi opened the Pi Beta Phi Settlement School in

Gatlinburg, Tennessee Gatlinburg is a mountain resort city in Sevier County, Tennessee, United States. It is located southeast of Knoxville and had a population of 3,944 at the 2010 Census and a U.S. Census population of 3,577 in 2020. It is a popular vacation res ...

, in 1912 to provide education, economic opportunity, and health care to the rural area at the edge of the

Great Smoky Mountains The Great Smoky Mountains (, ''Equa Dutsusdu Dodalv'') are a mountain range rising along the Tennessee–North Carolina border in the southeastern United States. They are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains, and form part of the Blue Ridge ...

. The school also conducted arts and crafts classes in an effort to preserve and promote the region's crafts tradition. Pine Mountain Settlement School, in Harlan County, Kentucky, was founded by William Creech, Sr., in 1913. Creech, a local resident, donated land for the school and recruited Katherine Pettit and Ethel DeLong to establish and run the institution.History
Pine Mountain Settlement School website Settlement schools typically had large campuses, including

dormitories A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm) is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people such as boarding school, high school, college or university s ...

for boarding students.The Appalachian Settlement Schools
KET, Lexington, Kentucky They functioned not only as schools, but also as community centers. With the establishment of public schools in the region in the 1920s and 1930s, settlement schools relinquished their role in the general education of children. Pine Mountain was a boarding school for elementary and

middle school A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school. ...

-age children until about 1930, when it became a residential

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

after public elementary schools were established in the region. Some settlement schools closed, but others assumed new functions over time. Hindman Settlement School offers adult education, including GED test preparation, and operates a tutorial program for people with dyslexia. Since the early 1970s Pine Mountain Settlement School has specialized in

environmental education Environmental education (EE) refers to organized efforts to teach how natural environments function, and particularly, how human beings can manage behavior and ecosystems to live sustainably. It is a multi-disciplinary field integrating discip ...

; it also has operated an

elderhostel Road Scholar is an American not-for-profit organization that provides educational travel programs primarily geared to older adults. The organization is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. From its founding in 1975 until 2010, Road Scholar ...

program.Jennifer Minton
The Current Roles of Settlement Schools
KET, Lexington, Kentucky The Pi Beta Phi Settlement School began an extension called the Craft Work Shop in 1945 in cooperation with the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state ...

;Josh Flory
Pi Beta Phi fraternity to sell Arrowmont land
Knoxville News Sentinel, August 16, 2008 it is now an independent

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

known as the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts that provides college and graduate-level courses in arts and crafts.

List of Appalachian settlement schools

The following are examples of settlement schools and other institutions (most no longer in operation) that were first founded as settlement schools:(Note: this material was removed from this collection c. 2012)

Alice Lloyd College Alice Lloyd College is a private work college in Pippa Passes, Kentucky. It was co-founded by the journalist Alice Spencer Geddes Lloyd (a native of Cambridge, Massachusetts) and June Buchanan (a native of New York City) in 1923, at first under ...

Pippa Passes, Kentucky Pippa Passes is a home rule-class city located along Caney Fork in Knott County, eastern Kentucky, United States. Its formal name was chosen to honor benefactors of Alice Lloyd College. Residents commonly call the community "Caney" or "Caney Cree ...

*Annville Institute, Annville, Kentucky *Bethel Mennonite Center, Rowdy, Kentucky *Buckhorn Children’s Center,

Buckhorn, Kentucky Buckhorn is a home rule-class city in Perry County, Kentucky, in the United States. The population was 162 at the 2010 census. It is centered on the Buckhorn Presbyterian Church, a log structure listed on the National Register of Historic Places ...

* John C. Campbell Folk School, Brasstown, North Carolina *

Frontier Nursing Service The Frontier Nursing Service was founded in 1925 by Mary Breckinridge and provides healthcare services to rural, underserved populations and educates nurse-midwives. The Service maintains six rural healthcare clinics in eastern Kentucky, the Ma ...

, Hyden, Kentucky *Hazel Green Academy, Hazel Green, Kentucky *Henderson Settlement School, Frakes,

Bell County, Kentucky Bell County is a county located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 24,097. Its county seat is Pineville. The county was formed in 1867, during the Reconstruction era from parts of Kn ...

. Founded in 1921. *

Hindman Settlement School Hindman Settlement School is a settlement school located in Hindman, Kentucky in Knott County. Established in 1902, it was the first rural settlement school in America.

, Hindman, Kentucky *Hinton Rural Life Center, Hayesville, North Carolina *Jackson Area Ministries Resource and Training Center,

Jackson, Ohio Jackson is a city in and the county seat of Jackson County, Ohio, United States approximately 27 mi (43 km) SE of Chillicothe. The population was 6,239 at the 2020 census. History Established in 1817, residents named the to ...

* Kingdom Come Settlement School, Linefork,

Letcher County, Kentucky Letcher County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 21,548. Its county seat is Whitesburg. The county, founded in 1842, is named for Robert P. Letcher, Governor of Kentucky from 1840 t ...

. Founded in 1924 by

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

s. *Lotts Creek Community School, Cordia,

. Founded in 1933. * Oneida Baptist Institute,

Oneida, Kentucky Oneida is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Clay County, Kentucky, United States. Its population was 410 at the 2010 census. It is the home of Oneida Baptist Institute. Goose Creek, the Red Bird River, and Bullskin ...

*Pi Beta Phi Settlement School (now Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts),

* Pine Mountain Settlement School, Harlan County, Kentucky * Pittman Community Center, Pittman Center, Tennessee *Red Bird Mission, Beverly,

. Founded in 1925. *Riverside Christian Training School, Lost Creek,

Breathitt County, Kentucky Breathitt County ( ) is a county in the eastern Appalachian portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 13,718. Its county seat is Jackson. The county was formed in 1839 and was named for John ...

. Founded in 1905 by the

Church of the Brethren The Church of the Brethren is an Anabaptist Christian denomination in the Schwarzenau Brethren (german: link=no, Schwarzenauer Neutäufer "Schwarzenau New Baptists") tradition that was organized in 1708 by Alexander Mack in Schwarzenau, Germ ...

. * Stuart Robinson School, Blackey, Kentucky. Founded in 1913 as a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

mission. )Sunset Gap Community Center,

Cosby, Tennessee Cosby is a census-designated place (CDP) and unincorporated community in Cocke County, Tennessee, Cocke County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. The population of the Cosby CDP according to the 2020 census was 807. The community has given its name t ...

. Started in 1920 by

s. (Note: this source is no longer at this repository) Vardy Community School, Vardy,

Hancock County, Tennessee Hancock County is a county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 6,662, making it the fourth-least populous county in Tennessee. Its county seat is Sneedville. History Hancoc ...

References

External links

Settlement Schools of Appalachia
KET, Lexington, Kentucky

D.H. Ramsey Library, Special Collections, University of North Carolina Asheville (Note: this material was removed from this collection c. 201
Hindman Settlement SchoolPine Mountain Settlement School

History

List of Appalachian settlement schools

References

External links

Further reading