Flora MacDonald College was a women's college in Red Springs, Robeson County, North Carolina. It was founded in 1896 by Dr. Charles Graves Vardell as the Red Springs Seminary, renamed Southern Presbyterian College and Conservatory of Music in 1903 then

Flora MacDonald Flora MacDonald (1722 – 5 March 1790) is best known for helping Charles Edward Stuart evade government troops after the Battle of Culloden in April 1746. Her family had generally backed the government during the 1745 Rising, and MacDonald l ...

College in 1914. The Neoclassical style main building was constructed between 1900 and 1910 and consists of six sections: the brick Conservatory Hall (1900); East Hall (1902); Morgan Hall (1904); West Hall (1905); the center domed section Administration Hall (1906); and Long West (1910). The main block, six bays wide and nine deep, has a Palladian entrance and a three-story

Doric order The Doric order is one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of t ...

tetrastyle

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...

and is surmounted by a dome. In the garden is a stone monument commemorating two of MacDonald's children, whose remains were moved from unmarked graves in Richmond County and reinterred on the college grounds in 1937. The building was named to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1976.

As a result of a 1952 study of the Presbyterian Synod of North Carolina the college was merged with Presbyterian Junior College of

Maxton, North Carolina Maxton is a town in Robeson and Scotland counties, North Carolina, United States. The population was 2,110 at the 2020 census. History The Maxton area was first settled in the 18th century. The community was incorporated in 1874 under the name ...

to form a four-year, coeducational college located elsewhere. Flora MacDonald College closed in 1961. From 1964 through 1974 the Flora MacDonald campus was occupied by Vardell Hall, a girls preparatory school and junior college. Since 1974, the campus has been home to Flora Macdonald Academy (renamed Highlander Academy; formerly Robeson Country Day School) a Pre-K – 12 private preparatory school.

References

External links

Photo: Flora Macdonald College, Red Springs, Robeson County, North Carolina
University and college buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina Neoclassical architecture in North Carolina School buildings completed in 1910 Education in Robeson County, North Carolina National Register of Historic Places in Robeson County, North Carolina History of women in North Carolina Red Springs, North Carolina 1910 establishments in North Carolina Former women's universities and colleges in the United States Defunct private universities and colleges in North Carolina 1961 disestablishments in North Carolina Brick buildings and structures in North Carolina {{RobesonCountyNC-NRHP-stub