Cora Wilson Stewart Moonlight School - Morehead, KY, USA
Posted by: 
Simplenfun
N 38° 10.998 W 083° 25.949
17S E 286952 N 4228949
This is a tiny one-room schoolhouse in the City of Morehead, Kentucky in which adults once gathered at night to learn to read and write. The interior has been restored, and group tours are available.
Waymark Code: WMCCQW
Location: Kentucky, United States
Date Posted: 08/22/2011
Views: 6
In the early 1900s many moonlight schools were opened in Kentucky, and later around the nation, due primarily to the selfless crusade of a Rowan County teacher named Cora Wilson Stewart. It was called a "moonlight school" because classes were held on nights when the moon cast enough light for students to see the footpaths and wagon trails that they often followed for miles to reach the school.
Stewart admired the strength and resourcefulness of mountain people and was troubled that so many of them were illiterate. In 1914-15, it was estimated that 40,000 Kentucky adults had learned to read and write in moonlight schools. Then Alabama and Mississippi adopted Stewart's idea, and by 1916, adults in 18 states had been enrolled. In the 1930s her adult-literacy teaching methods were gradually bypassed as educators relegated her once-popular "Country Life Readers" to the back shelves in favor of more modern programs.
INFORMATION OBTAINED FROM: (
visit link)