Mary Field School

Front: Following Emancipation, education was a priority for African American families on Daufuskie. Adults and children attended school at First Union African Baptist Church 1872-1934. Church families purchased land in 1930 and by 1933 had raised funds to build a school. Workers from the island built the school. The two-room Mary Field School opened in 1934 with grades 1-6. Reverse: Mary Field became a Beaufort Co. school in the 1950s. Miss Frances Jones taught on the island 1930-1969 and educated several generations of Daufuskie families. Author Pat Conroy was briefly a teacher here 1969-70 and his novel The Water is Wide was based on his experience. In 2009 the former school building was renovated to be used for church functions and as a community center.