"Raleigh's First School and Church Stood on Site of Pinecrest Camp" Newspaper Article Dated Mar. 17, 1927 Submitter's Note: I have a number of photocopies of articles that were sent to me some time ago by an employee of the Beckley Post-Herald. Most articles include dates but not the name of the paper. These could have been from either the "Raleigh Register" or the "Post-Herald". Newspapers in Raleigh County went through a number of changes in title and ownership over the years. However, these articles are available on microfilm at the Beckley Register-Herald Archives located at 801 N. Kanawha St. Beckley, WV 25802-2813. -- That Pinecrest Camp, near Prosperity, stands on the site of the first school and church in what is now Raleigh county is the claim made by C. J. Hollandsworth in the following article which he has prepared for publication. The information is taken from a diary kept by W. O. Hollandsworth, one of the pioneer settlers of this section of the state. The diary states: "In the fall of 1836, I, in company with Stephen Saunders and Wilson Calfee,left Pulaski County, Va. for the wilderness. After five days travel through the unbroken forest, we came to the home of Thomas Warden near Cranberry Branch. We hunted and visited his neighbors, Jno. Williams, Sparrel Bailey, Jno. Bailey, Alfred Beckley at Wildwood. The next nearest settlement was on Coal River. "I purchased a tract of land from Sparriel Bailey, supposed to be 150 acres for ten cents an acre, or $15.00 for the whole tract, including a small school house that had been built several years previous. Stephen Saunders bought a tract adjoining this of 225 acres. Wilson Calfee had enough of the wilderness and would not buy any land. "We returned to our homes after several weeks tramping through the woods. Stephen Saunders contracted fever on the trip and died a short time after returning home." The Saunders land was later sold to John Hollandsworth and Otis Tench. More recently all three tracts of land have been bought by the New River Company and they are giving the surface to Pinecrest Camp with other lands owned by them. Continues the old diary: "I moved with my family to my lands in the fall of 1837, and brought with me some bedding, one mortar for pounding corn into meal, and a baker for for baking bread, some pots for boiling purposes, also one horse, one cow, one hog. We moved into the school house for the winter. We tied the horse and cow to a sapling and bedded the hog in the chimney corner. "During the night a pack of wolves got after the hog, which was so scared she broke down the door and stayed under the bed the rest of the night. The next day came another pack of wolves of about 50, and they began to gnaw at the pen. I shot the leader of the pack dead on top of the pen. Then they howled a piercing cry and went back into the dense forest. The old settlers came for miles to see the new animal that was to help supply the family with meat. "In the spring of 1838, we cut logs and hauled them together for a house on the bank of Cranberry Branch. Then a day was set for a house raising. Men came before daylight from Coal River to help in raising the house and to see their new neighbors in the wilderness. The house was raised, the floor made of split punchions, the roof of clapboards, loose stone picked up for the chimney, a clapboard door and the house was done. The men went home for supper. "We killed thirty deer and five bear in November and December, all fine and fat. In January and February I taught school in the old school house with 20 scholars at fifty cents per scholar. The next winter year James Rollins taught the school and the year following Man Keaton taught it. "The old school house has been abandoned now for school purposes as a new church house was built only 300 yards distant and is being used for school purposes. Immigration is flowing fast and swift to the wilderness." -- Submitted by Melissa Duggins **************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. Files may be printed or copied for personal use only. ****************************************************************