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Schools and academies

Cedar Grove Academy

In Cedar Grove. 10 dated events, 1890–1915.

Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange, Orange County GIS, OpenStreetMap and a few other published sources named on each site’s page; town and community pins show approximate locations.

People in its history

People named in events about this site, ordered by number of mentions. Each example links to an entry with a source citation.

Sites linked through the same people

In the chronology

  1. Cedar Grove citizens put up a new academy building and plan a chapel in memory of Samuel W. Hughes Citizens of Cedar Grove were building a handsome academy near the site of Samuel Wellwood Hughes's old school, now under Rev. J. R. Game of South Carolina. The trustees proposed a chapel beside it named for Hughes and asked his former pupils for a dollar or more each toward it. People: Samuel Wellwood Hughes, John Knox Hughes Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), April 12, 1890, p. 2
  2. Cedar Grove residents vote to build a school building to be called Cedar Grove Academy A meeting of Cedar Grove citizens decided to put up a large school building named Cedar Grove Academy, elected a board of trustees with John McCracken as chairman, and named an executive committee to buy a lot and build; the lot was bought and work begun at once, with completion hoped for by early summer. Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), March 29, 1890, p. 3
  3. Cedar Grove Academy opens its fall term in a new schoolhouse Under Rev. J. B. Game the academy opened in a newly built, painted and plastered schoolhouse with 40 students, and more enrolled in its first week. Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), September 6, 1890, p. 3
  4. Cedar Grove Academy is incorporated Simeon J. Hall, Robert H. Hughes and Artemus A. Compton incorporated Cedar Grove Academy before the clerk of superior court to run a school for the youth of the area, for thirty years, with $2,500 in stock in $5 shares. People: Robert Hughes, Samuel Mallett Gattis Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), September 13, 1890, p. 3
  5. Cedar Grove Academy closes its first fall term in the new building with 80 students Principal J. B. Game reported that the academy's fall term closed on December 19 with 80 enrolled and a student entertainment that Friday night. He expected 100 in the spring term, planned uniforms for the boys and was thinking of hiring another teacher. Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), January 3, 1891, p. 3
  6. Cedar Grove Academy holds its 1891 commencement Rev. L. L. Johnson was to preach the commencement sermon on Sunday, and Judge R. W. Winston and W. W. Kitchin gave addresses. Irene Hughes won the principal's gold medal and C. C. McDade the silver, and the fall term was set to open August 27. People: Robert W. Winston, William W. (William Walton) Kitchin Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), June 27, 1891, p. 3
  7. W. S. Snipes opens Cedar Grove Academy's spring term as its new principal Cedar Grove Academy opened its spring term on Monday under a new principal, W. S. Snipes, a University of North Carolina graduate. The school's notice said competent assistants would be employed. Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), January 16, 1892, p. 3
  8. Annie L. Hughes keeps Cedar Grove Academy Annie L. Hughes carried on a Cedar Grove Academy from 1894 until 1915, a decade after the death of Samuel W. Hughes ended his Hughes Academy. People: Samuel Wellwood Hughes DigitalNC: Irene Oliver Pender, A History of Orange County Schools, 1752-1983 (1983), p. 16
  9. Fire breaks out in the Cedar Grove Academy building A defective flue set the third story of the Cedar Grove Academy building on fire and burned a hole about the size of a barrel in the ceiling before the pupils put it out and saved the building. Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), February 29, 1896, p. 3
  10. The county board buys the Annie Hughes Academy to house a Cedar Grove high school Answering a petition from Cedar Grove residents, the board offered on May 3, 1915 to buy the old Cedar Grove Academy from Annie Hughes and on May 15 paid her $1,500 for it, deeding her the lot of the one-teacher school it closed. The new Cedar Grove High School took grades one through eleven. People: Samuel Paul Lockhart DigitalNC: Irene Oliver Pender, A History of Orange County Schools, 1752-1983 (1983), p. 121

Open these in the chronology →

Indexed works

The index has no works about Cedar Grove Academy itself yet. The surveys and maps below cover where it stands. Search the index for Cedar Grove Academy, or tell us about a book or record we have missed.

Surveys and maps of the area

Not about Cedar Grove Academy alone: the architectural surveys that cover its town or the county, and maps drawn while it stood. Several of the surveys can be read free online at NC Digital Collections.

History and Architecture of Orange County, North Carolina

Mattson, Richard L. · 1996 · Unpublished manuscript

Richard L. Mattson's manuscript survey of the history and architecture of Orange County, completed in September 1996. Its 78 pages cover the county's historic buildings and structures and end with a bibliography.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Orange County multiple property documentation form: "Historic resources of Orange County."

1993

National Register multiple property documentation form on the historic resources of Orange County, completed in 1993. Kelly Lally and M. Ruth Little led the first phase of the survey, and Jody Carter and Todd Peck the second. It runs 123 pages with a bibliography.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

[Architectural field surveys for Orange County : collected for the Historic and architectural resources of the Tar-Neuse River basin report]

1974 · Survey and Planning Branch, Historic Preservation Section, Division of Archives and History

Historic building survey forms for Orange County gathered in 1974 by the state's Historic Preservation Section for a report on the Tar-Neuse River basin. About 400 pages of forms covering buildings in Chapel Hill, Hillsborough and the countryside; a form can carry a description, historical notes, location, a photograph and a floor plan.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

Map of Orange County, N.C.

Tate, George W. · 1891 · George W. Tate

Facsimile, dated 1940, of George W. Tate's 1891 map of Orange County. It shows towns, roads, railroads such as the North Carolina Rail Road and the Chapel Hill line, residences, schools, churches, mills and mines, with portraits and pictures of buildings in the margins.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

A map of Orange County, N.C.

Noble, M. C. S. (Marcus Cicero Stephens), 1855-1942 · 1915

Marcus Cicero Stephens Noble drew this 1915 map to show how Orange County's original territory was divided, tracing the formation of Caswell, Person, Alamance, Durham, Chatham, Randolph, Guilford and Rockingham counties out of it. Topics include county boundaries and the history of political divisions in the Piedmont. Surviving as a photocopy on a sheet 31 by 23 centimeters.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

UNC

Soil map, North Carolina, Orange County sheet

United States · 1918 · United States Government Printing Office

Color soil map of Orange County issued in 1918 by the U.S. Government Printing Office at one inch to the mile, 68 by 46 cm. Besides soil types it marks roads and railroads, the Southern Railway among them, churches, schools, mills, stores, cotton gins, iron mines, cemeteries and the county home, and it names the townships of Bingham, Cedar Grove, Chapel Hill, Cheeks, Eno, Hillsborough and Little River.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

Found a book OCPL doesn’t own? You can often borrow it through interlibrary loan at OCPL.

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    Where to look on the shelf

    These books don’t necessarily mention Cedar Grove Academy, but they cover where it stands, its kind of building and the land, family and burial records behind it, and they are where a search for a place like this usually goes next. All are at OCPL, most in the Wall Collection.

    Histories of the town and county

    • Foundational · NC 975.656 ORA Orange County--1752-1952 1953

      Hugh Talmage Lefler and Paul W. Wager's history of Orange County across its first two centuries, 1752 to 1952, prepared for the county's bicentennial. It covers government and politics, biography and the county's families, and doubles as a genealogical reference. Published in Chapel Hill by the Orange Printshop in 1953, 389 pages with illustrations and an index; this copy is a later reprint.

    • Start here · NC 371.097 PENDER A History of Orange County Schools, 1752-1983 Pender, Irene Oliver · 1983

      Irene Oliver Pender's history of the public schools of Orange County from 1752 to 1983, covering more than two centuries of schooling in Hillsborough, Efland, Cedar Grove and the rural districts of the county. Published in 1983, 186 pages with illustrations.

    Buildings and surveys

    • Foundational · NC 720.975 BIS A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Piedmont North Carolina Bishir, Catherine W. · 2003

      Catherine W. Bishir and Michael T. Southern's field guide to the historic buildings of the North Carolina Piedmont, arranged county by county from Wake and Franklin in the east to Mecklenburg and Gaston in the west. The Orange County section takes in Hillsborough, Chapel Hill and Carrboro along with the rural county, with entries on individual buildings and maps for finding them. Published 2003, 596 pages with illustrations and maps.

    • Foundational · NC 917.56 ORANGE An Inventory Of Sites Of Cultural, Historic, Recreational, Biological, And Geological Significance In The Unincorporated Portions Of Orange County Orange County (N.C.) · 1986

      County planning department survey of significant sites in the unincorporated parts of Orange County, published in 1988, 95 pages with maps. The survey covers cemeteries, church buildings and archaeological sites on the cultural side, and plants, animals, endangered species, wildlife refuges, geology and recreation areas on the natural side. Useful for local historians, genealogists tracing burial grounds and land planners alike.

    • Foundational · NC 363.69 HIS Historic Preservation Element: Orange County Comprehensive Plan ; Orange County, North Carolina Orange County (N.C.) · 1996

      The historic preservation element of Orange County's comprehensive plan, prepared for the county Historic Preservation Commission and Planning Department by the Jaeger Company of Gainesville, Georgia, and adopted on 1 April 1996. Partly financed by National Park Service funds through the state Division of Archives and History, it sets county policy on historic buildings and sites and their conservation. 59 pages plus 50 unnumbered, with illustrations and maps, some folded and in color.

    Land, family and burial records

    • Start here · NC 333.16 CHILTON The Land Grant Atlas of Old Orange County Chilton, Mark · 2012

      Mark Chilton's oversized atlas plotting eighteenth-century land grants across the original Orange County, which stretched well beyond today's boundaries into what became Alamance and Durham counties. Published in Carrboro by Hand Made Books beginning in 2012, the set was planned in four volumes: Henry McCulloh's great tract number 11 and the land north of it; the Saxapahaw old fields (volume 2); Chapel Hill, Hillsborough and the Johnston Tract; and Durham, Rougemont and McCulloh's tract number 12. Maps and color illustrations, 41 cm.

    Research sources

    Sources cited in this site’s history, National Register documents, and places to get research help. Research guide: Investigate a school or community institution.

    Historic sites, markers, and maps

    Records of the time 10

    Show all 10

    Collections and databases

    Local help

    Nearby

    Two mice reading back to back against a leaf, with the hand-lettered words Friends of the Orange County Public Library
    Illustration by Caldecott Medalist Matthew Cordell, gifted to the Friends 2026