History plus

This image shows William McGill working with a group of younger students at Philip’s Delight School. He was the teacher and principal at the school, which was the last one-room school in Frederick County. It was located off an old lumber trail surrounded by thick woods on Catoctin Mountain. Before the school closed on February 1, 1955, the families on the mountain had had their own school since 1800.

Different buildings had served as the school over the years. The last one was brought into the area from Foxville. William Stump, writing for the Sun Magazine, said that the final building was “a dull, weather-beaten building, and the years have made it swaybacked, like an old plowhorse.” Inside, McGill created a space for learning with cards, charts, wall maps, textbooks, test materials and library books. Although the school got electricity in the years before it closed, it never had indoor plumbing. The students used nearby outhouses.

During its existence, Philip’s Delight School never had more than a few dozen students in grades one through seven. When the school finally closed, it only had 13 students.

McGill retired from teaching in 1958 at the mandatory age of 70. He died at age 85 in 1973.

Using HitPaw FotorPea, the original image gets colorized, sharpened, and repaired to let you see history more clearly.

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Photo Courtesy of Thurmontimages.com

Post AI Retouching