Lingle School

Much of what I write on this blog is about western North Carolina and its beauty, its history, its people. The world has seen all this melt away in one evil swipe from Hurricane Helene. My husband and I were fortunate that we had no trees crush our cars or power lines fall in our street. We didn't lose power, only cable and internet for five days, mere inconveniences compared to what I saw on the news. 

On the third day after the hurricane hit, we ventured out. Our aim was to check on Tuttle State Forest, which we had heard through the facebook grapevine, had sustained major damages. Saddest of all I saw was this schoolhouse.

This is/was Lingle School, established 1867. It was renovated and placed at the state forest for display and safekeeping. Imagine the hurricanes this building weathered in its span of existence. Until now. A tree found its way down and landed square on the roof. With the accompanying deluge of rain, the inside artifacts were damaged. Hopefully some can be salvaged, but for now, no one dares enter the building. 

This view shows more damage, but note that the well beside the schoolhouse survived quite well, as well as a well could do. So did the outhouse behind the school...both well and outhouse are non-functional, only for educational purposes.

   

Not so fortunate, however, was this construction outhouse, that was, on the day before the hurricane, quite functional. 

Tuttle Educational State Forest is in the process of adding a full size classroom building. Fortunately, it had little damage beyond the outhouse beside it for construction workers.

Losing Lingle School is sad, but in the wider scope of the extreme losses in the region, it is a small sadness. No one was killed. No one was injured. The history of the school is preserved in other venues. Perhaps the building called Lingle School will be salvaged to rebuild. Perhaps not. For now, we wait.

Catch of the day,

Gretchen