Coral Bay Community Council Working to Provide Recognition and Protection for Historic Schoolhouse Properties in Coral Bay and East End, St. John

The Coral Bay Community Council (CBCC) is set to begin a new project recognizing a part of local history important to many Coral Bay residents’ families and their memories:  documenting the significance of our “one room” schoolhouses from the 1860s to the 1940s and forward.  According to a recently issued release, the primary focus of this effort is on two early schoolhouse buildings, one in central Coral Bay (‘The Coral Bay School’, later to become part of the Benjamin Franklin School and then renamed the Guy H. Benjamin School) and the East End Schoolhouse run by the Moravian Church for decades in the East End neighborhood.  Research will also be gathered on the Horace Mann School (now the John’s Folly Learning Institute) on Southside Coral Bay, while working on developing the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) applications for the first two properties. The project is made possible through a grant from the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands with funding provided b...