GC2HEKQ Woodson Chapel School (Traditional Cache) in Kentucky, United States created by kygeocache

GC2HEKQ ▼

A cache by kygeocache Message this owner

Hidden : 10/31/2010

Difficulty:

Terrain:

Size: Size: regular (regular)

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Geocache Description:

You are looking for an ammo can hidden near the former site of the Woodson Chapel School. You do not need to climb on or walk throrugh the foundation to find the cache as it is located outside of the perimeter.

After the post offices in the area were consolidated, the community where the cache is located became known as Woodson Chapel. It was a close knit community made up of farmers who farmed the Cumberland river bottoms and ridge land.
Parts of the community are still easily identifiable today. A large concrete foundation, in fair condition, is visible from the road. Its duty was to support the Woodson Chapel school.
	Believed to be one of the oldest schools in Lyon county, classes held in the original Woodson Church building date back to the 1850's. Children sat on puncheon benches and used the wall of the old church building for a blackboard.
A puncheon is a plank or board made by hewing instead of sawing. The puncheons used for benches were split logs hewn smooth on the split side only. The wood of the church wall was planed and painted black to make a board for the children and teacher to write on with chalk.
In 1904 a new one room grade school was built. The school was built on one acre of land that was purchased for $15.00. The deed to the one acre tract was made to the trustees of the Common School District #13 of Lyon County. As the population in the area continued to grow a larger school was necessary. Around 1920 local carpenter, Boyce Mattingly, built a new school on this site. The building had two large classrooms, a library and two cloak rooms.
In 1949 the Lyon County schools were consolidated. The old clapboard building with the large windows and sliding partitions was torn down leaving only the deteriorating foundation you see today. During the Lake Barkley Dam project, the Federal Government bought the Woodson Chapel School site for $825.00. The money was paid to the Lyon County Board of Education.

Along with the concrete foundation the Woodson Chapel Cemetery and a large pavilion is nearby, both in excellent condition. For more information on this area there is a book on-site located in the nearby pavilion with pictures and detailed history of the area. Information on this site was obtained from the Woodson Chapel on-site book.
"I weep for the place and the people gone, "For the happiness and the way-of-life gone, "For peace and the innocence gone, "I weep for the beautiful and unrecoverable past." - Janice Holt Giles