Holley Graded School

Northumberland County · dedicated 1996 · Rte. 360, approximately 0.35 miles east of Rte. 626 intersection

In 1868, Caroline Putnam (1826-1917) established a school for the children of former slaves here. In 1869, her lifelong friend, Sallie Holley (1818-1893) of N.Y., abolitionist and suffragette, purchased this two-acre site. Holley was an agent of the American Anti-Slavery Society from 1851 to 1870. In 1917 this site was deeded to a board of eleven local black trustees. The third school built here was begun in 1914 and completed in 1933 with funds raised solely within the black community. The four-room structure was the largest black elementary school in Northumberland County. Since 1917 Holley Graded School has remained under the trustees' control.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

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under a mile from where William Gabby lived in the 1760s

what this marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years here

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