Bear Grass School

Bear Grass School is a campus of school buildings in the small Martin County, North Carolina, town of Bear Grass. Its core is a one-story, U-plan brick school built in 1925 in a subdued Colonial Revival style, after the earlier frame school burned in 1924. Architect Eric Flanagan drew the plans, and the building included an auditorium, a library, classrooms and central heating. Two classrooms were added in 1927. Over the following decades the community added a 1935 teacherage for teachers' housing, a 1942 gymnasium built with Works Progress Administration help and donated timber, a 1948 brick cafeteria and high school building, a 1951 scout hut, and a 1955 Modernist gymnasium and principal's house. Later additions include a 1980 music and agriculture building and two cement statues by local sculptor Henry Cowin. The district was listed because it illustrates 1920s school design and the long local effort to support and expand the school, which still serves the community and sits in a rural setting.