Berry Schools
Also known as: Berry College; Berry Academy
Why it's listed
Berry Schools Historic District near Rome, Georgia, covers about 5,300 acres of a 30,000-acre holding, mostly forest. It includes the Berry College campus, the Berry Academy campus, a wooded corridor known as The Stretch, Oak Hill (Martha Berry's family home, built in 1847), the House o' Dreams, a mill and waterwheel, and Possum Trot Church. Martha Berry began teaching Sunday School to mountain children around 1900, opened a boys' school in 1902 and a girls' school in 1909, and added a college program in 1926. Students paid little or nothing in cash but worked rotating shifts, and they built most of the campus from logs cut on the property and bricks they made. The buildings range from log cabins to a Collegiate Gothic women's residence group and coursed stone dormitories. The district was listed for its role in educating thousands of students through a work-based model.
Significance in brief: The Berry Schools are significant as an educational innovation, built under Martha Berry's direction to educate mountain children of north Georgia. Work was part of every student's program, and students built most of the buildings themselves. The campuses form an architectural record of the schools' growth from 1902 into the 1930s and later.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 78000981, listed July 21, 1978. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | N of Rome on U.S. 27, Rome |
|---|---|
| County | Floyd County |
| Listed | July 21, 1978 |
| Reference number | 78000981 |
| Resource type | District |
| Period of significance | 1900- |
| Architectural style | Classical, log, Collegiate Gothic, coursed stone |
| Areas of significance | Agriculture, Conservation, Education, Architecture, Religion, Social History |
| Level of significance | National |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Owned by the Board of Trustees of Berry College and in use as a college and academy; some buildings serve as guest, faculty and staff housing. |
| Acreage | 5300 |
| Coordinates | 34.30427, -85.21138 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
This is a historic district. Buildings within its boundary are either contributing (they add to the district's significance) or non-contributing. Owners of contributing income-producing buildings can claim the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit; homeowners should look at state credits. National Register districts impose no design review by themselves; a local historic district ordinance, if one exists, does (the difference explained).
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 78000981.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q4894781
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.