Battlefields Foundation Partners with Commonwealth to Preserve Historic Black School
NEW MARKET- As part of National Preservation Month, the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation is announcing the preservation of the Rupert Schoolhouse, one of the first Black schools in the Shenandoah Valley. Thanks to a significant investment by the Commonwealth of Virginia, the Foundation has purchased the property and is working closely with Virginia’s Department of Historic Resources (DHR) to permanently protect the site under a conservation easement. The Town of New Market provided the required approvals to move forward with preservation of the property. Plans are in the beginning stages for the restoration of the building’s exterior, and the rehabilitation of the first floor as a visitor center and museum.
The story of Jessie Rupert and her students is one of strength and resilience in the face of extreme adversity and will be central to the exhibits planned for the site. The museum will spotlight the experiences of civilians before, during, and after the war; explore the complexities of social and political life in the Valley during the mid-19th century; and communicate the story of reconstruction, reconciliation, and civil rights in the post-war years. The exhibits will be designed as a companion to the battlefield experiences that can be found in the Valley and will encourage visitors to visit the region’s historic sites. The museum will be a visitor center for the “Long Road to Freedom Trail” that is being developed by the Battlefields Foundation. These new interpretive experiences are being designed to help visitors better understand the contributions of women to our history, learn more about the inspiring struggle from Civil War to Civil Rights, and delve deeper into the history of the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National Historic District.
Rupert began construction of her school in 1869 and it was completed in time for classes to begin in February of 1870. Rupert was able to build the school with the help of the Freedman’s Bureau, funds raised by veterans of the Battle of New Market, and a town lot that she inherited from her husband’s estate. She named the school “Woodworth Cottage Institute” and opened her doors for the education of poor white children and the children of recently freed slaves. White students attended the school during the daytime hours and Black students through the evening. Classes were held on the first floor of the structure and Jessie and her children resided on the upper two floors.
By the time her school opened, Rupert had lived on two continents and in three states. She had been orphaned and taken in by a family friend, and then, when her benefactor died, was turned out. She had lived in both the North and the South and had been a citizen of Virginia under the flags of two different countries. She had taught Sunday School to enslaved children with the man who became famous as Stonewall Jackson and had built a reputation as an up-and-coming educator, teaching at a female seminary in Lexington and then in New Market. Rupert had married into one of the most prominent families in the middle Shenandoah Valley only to find herself ostracized by her husband’s family and friends because of her social and political beliefs. She had been a prisoner of war, jailed by her neighbors, and released by her old friend Stonewall Jackson. She was the mother of two children and lost her husband to suicide after just five years of marriage.
The Shenandoah Valley was a scene of devastation and destruction following the four years of Civil War. The economy of the region had all but collapsed and once prosperous farms had been severely impacted. Public schools were non-existent, and it wasn’t until changes to the Virginia Constitution that the beginnings of a public system for educating the Commonwealth’s children was put into place. Before that, students were educated at private institutions like Woodworth Cottage Institute. Schools for Black students were controversial, and Rupert faced threats for opening her school to recently freed slaves. When the white families of the day students learned that the school was educating Black students at night, enrollment dropped and with it, the financial means to operate the school. These financial difficulties, the establishment of additional schools in the area, and the fledgling public school system led to the closing of Woodworth Cottage Institute within just a few years of opening. Though short-lived, the Institute helped some of Shenandoah County’s African American families take their first steps on the road to a brighter future for themselves and their descendants.
The Battlefields Foundation has secured more than $800,000 in funding needed to restore the structure, install exhibits, and open the site to the public, and fundraising continues even as work gets underway. Careful study and documentation of the structure will precede the restoration work and it is expected to be several years before the project is complete.
Jessie Rupert
Rupert School Circa 1870
Rupert School Today