te school in White Sulphur finally gave place to one
established by the district. It had the support of the best white
citizens of the community and was maintained largely by the enterprise
of progressive Negroes seeking to provide for their children all
facilities for education offered elsewhere. About the same time, that
is, in 1866, the Freedmen's Bureau had a school in Lewisburg, under
the direction of one Miss Woodford. After serving the people well for
a year or two, this institution gave place to a public school.[19]

In Ronceverte, where the Negro population increased more rapidly and
where these persons of color made more economic progress than in the
case of White Sulphur, Negro education had a better chance. After
passing through the stage of such private instruction as white
persons interested in the man far down felt disposed to give, an
actual school was opened in the early seventies with an enrolment of
thirty pupils. The first teacher was Mr. Robert Keys of Charleston,
West Virginia. Mr. Keys was well prepared for that time and served
there creditably for two years. Mr. Keys had the support of such
well-known families as the Crumps, the Capertons, the Gees, the
Petersons, the Eldridges, the Browns, the Eubanks, the Williamses and
the Hayneses. There served also Miss Carr of Harrisonburg, Virginia,
and Benjamin Perkins of Lewisburg, West Virginia. Mr. Robert D. Riddle
was also one of the early instructors. Mr. Riddle retired from
teaching several years ago, but is still living in the city of
Ronceverte, where he has distinguished himself as a successful truck
farmer. Some years later Rev. R. D. W. Meadows, who has for a number
of years served as a missionary in West Virginia, labored as a teacher
in these parts, leaving a favorable impression on the system. The
school was first taught in the small one-room house privately owned.
When it increased in later years, it was found necessary to divide it
so as to teach a part of the school in the Negro Baptist Church until
the larger building could be provided. It is now a well-graded and
junior high school with many modern facilities.[20]

Union, in Monroe County, was not unlike the other large settlements of
this section having considerable Negro population. There was at times
even as early as 1855 a healthy sentiment in favor of the improvement
of the few slaves there, and this was not lost after the Civil War had
ended. So general was the interest in behalf