“The last African-American school on St. Simons Island, the
Harrington School represents the most viable and valuable venue to
interpret the Gullah/Geechee heritage of St. Simons Island. The building
formerly served as the Harrington Grade School from the 1920s until its
desegregation in the 1960s, when it was converted to a daycare facility
and served as such until the 1970s.
In 2004, Glynn County and the St. Simons Land Trust, Inc.
acquired ownership of a tract of real estate, containing approximately 12
acres of land, known as the Harrington Tract and located on South Harrington Road on St. Simons Island, Georgia. The Harrington Tract includes a parcel of land containing approximately 1.7 acres, on which is
located the last remaining African American school house on St. Simons
Island.
The Harrington Tract was acquired by the Land Trust and the
County pursuant to the Georgia Greenspace laws and the Glynn County
Greenspace program. Following that acquisition, the County and the
Land Trust executed and recorded various documents which restricted
the Harrington Tract for the use of the public.
After several unsuccessful attempts, over several years, to
find funding for the restoration of the Schoolhouse, the Land Trust determined in late 2009 that the building was so deteriorated that it was
probably beyond the point that restoration was possible. The Land Trust
concluded that its best course of action would be to disassemble the
Schoolhouse and erect a “ghost structure” with suitable signage memorializing the site.
In early 2010, members of the St. Simons African American
Heritage Coalition and others interested in historic preservation decided
to seek a second opinion regarding the physical condition of the Schoolhouse building. They consulted with Cullen Chambers, who is the Chair
of the Technical Advisory Committee of the Historic Preservation Advisory Council of the Coastal Regional Commission. Shortly thereafter,
Mr. Chambers and his staff inspected the Schoolhouse and determined
that the building was structurally sound and worthy of preservation and
restoration.
Once
O
nce this determination was made, renewed enthusiasm
ffor
or tthe
he rrestoration
estoration of the Schoolhouse began to build. The restoration
process
p
rocess of
of preserving
preserving the Harrington School began in 2011 and is ongoing.”
g
oing.”
SITE HISTORY
The schoolohuse is featured in the 1974 film ‘Conrack’
Early drawing of the schoolhouse
Gullah Geechee Corridor
Early photo of schoolhouse and teachers
Booker T. Washington played a prominent role in
the schools establishment
CONTEXT MAP
EXISTING LAND
EXISTING SCHOOLHOUSE
SOIL MAP
HURRICANE STORM SURGE MAP
Hydrology primarily
flows from the southern end
of the site towards the northern end. Arrows indicate the
direction of water flow. The
two main high points are the
Southeastern corner and the
center of the isthmus between the two bodies of water. Slope is severe near the
waters edge and relatively
even the further away. Also,
as indicated by the topography, the water bodies vary
little in depth.
CONTOUR AND HYDROLOGY MAP
2
1
Axonometric view looking North
1
These images give a basic
understanding of the degree of slope
within the site. The southern end is
relatively flat and tapers off to the
north. The greatest degree of slope
is from the two bodies of water. In
between these two bodies is an isthmus which the main connectivity point
between the northern and southern
ends. A person and locator map is
included for a sense of context.
SLOPE STUDY
2
View looking Southwest
View looking Northeast
PROGRAM
CONCEPT DESIGN A
CONCEPT DESIGN B
CONCEPT DESIGN C
Forsythia x intermedia
Myrica cerifera
Pachysandra terminalis
Cercis canadensis ‘Forest Pansy’
Dryopteris ludoviciana
Native
and
Adaptive
Plantings
Sabal minor
Illicium parviflorum
Chasmanthium latifolium
Rhododendron austrinum
Liriope spicata
Aucuba japonica ‘Variegata’
Cornus florida
Magnolia grandiflora ‘D.D. Blanchard’
Chrysogonum virginianum
Grading Plan
Details
*Citations:
Google Images
Hansen Group
St. Simons African-American Heritage Coalition
thank you for your time