Liberty Hill School
Also known as: :iberty-Exway School; Covington Community Center; Rh673
Why it's listed
Liberty Hill School is a one-story frame schoolhouse on a one-acre hilltop lot overlooking Buffalo Creek in northwest Richmond County, North Carolina. Built in 1930 for African American children of the Covington area, it follows a Rosenwald Fund design for a two-teacher school, with a front-gable roof, a projecting Industrial Room wing, dual entries, brick stove flues and Craftsman brackets. A school had stood on the site since the nineteenth century, and a county board decision in 1929 approved funding for this building, which cost $2,000. Classes ended in 1947, when students moved to a consolidated school in Ellerbe, and the county sold the building in 1948. In the mid-1950s the county bought it back and turned it into the Covington Community Center, removing the partition between the classrooms. It is now one of only three known surviving Rosenwald schools in Richmond County and is listed for its links to black education and for its architecture.
Significance in brief: It was built with Julius Rosenwald Fund assistance for the African American children of the Covington area and closely follows the Rosenwald two-teacher community school plan. It is tied to black education and ethnic heritage in Richmond County. It is one of only three known surviving Rosenwald schools in the county.
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 07001409, listed January 17, 2008. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | 234 Covington Comm. Rd., Ellerbe |
|---|---|
| County | Richmond County |
| Listed | January 17, 2008 |
| Reference number | 07001409 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | 1930-1947 |
| Architectural style | Bungalow/Craftsman |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Architecture, Education, Black |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Sold by the county in January 2006 to a private owner who plans to rehabilitate it as lodgings. The community center use ended in recent years and the building has deteriorated. The form lists current function as work in progress. |
| Acreage | 1 |
| Coordinates | 35.13764, -79.86644 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
For a publicly owned building or structure, listing mainly matters when federal funds, permits or licences are involved: projects then go through Section 106 review so effects on the property are considered. Listing also strengthens applications for preservation grants and, for leased income-producing uses, can enable the federal rehabilitation tax credit.
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 07001409.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q19986784
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.