Appalachian Community Histories – Woodlawn, Carroll County: From a Historic School to Agricultural Education and Appalachian Music
In the Blue Ridge Mountains of southwestern Virginia, between the communities of Galax and Hillsville, lies Woodlawn, a Carroll County community whose history reaches well beyond its rural roads and surrounding farmland. For generations, Woodlawn was a place where families gathered around churches, schools, businesses, and agricultural traditions, while musicians carried the sounds of the mountains into homes and eventually recording studios across the country.
Although Woodlawn has never been a large urban center, it played an important role in the development of public education in Virginia. Its school became Carroll County’s first public high school in 1907 and later helped pioneer vocational agricultural education under the federal Smith-Hughes Act of 1917. The community also became associated with influential traditional musicians, including Ernest V. “Pop” Stoneman, whose recordings helped shape the early commercial country music industry.
The story of Woodlawn is therefore not simply the history of a school or a collection of mountain families. It is a history of educational reform, changing agricultural practices, local enterprise, cultural traditions, and the efforts of a rural community to preserve the institutions that helped define it.
Early Settlement and the Growth of Woodlawn
The history of Woodlawn developed within the broader settlement of the southern Blue Ridge, where farms and small communities emerged along mountain roads, streams, and productive valleys. Carroll County itself was established in 1842 from part of Grayson County, with additional territory transferred from Patrick County in 1856. During the nineteenth century, agricultural households formed the foundation of much of the county’s economy, while churches, local businesses, and schools gradually became centers of community life.
The development of public education provides one of the clearest windows into this early period. Following Virginia’s adoption of a new constitution in 1869, the General Assembly established a statewide system of public education in 1870. Carroll County organized its schools into the Pine Creek, Laurel Fork, Fancy Gap, Piper Gap, and Sulphur Springs districts, but financial difficulties and limited facilities made consistent schooling difficult for many mountain families.
The state’s first annual report of the superintendent of public instruction recorded 1,799 white students enrolled in thirty-seven Carroll County public schools during the 1870–1871 school term, although fewer than half regularly attended classes. The county had no public schools for African American children at that time, reflecting the inequalities that shaped education in Virginia following the Civil War.
For families seeking more advanced instruction than the existing public schools could provide, private academies offered another possibility. These institutions often required tuition and sometimes provided boarding accommodations for students traveling from distant communities. Woodlawn became home to one of the most important such schools in Carroll County, establishing an educational tradition that would eventually shape the community for more than a century.
The Founding of Woodlawn Male and Female Academy
In 1878, Isaac A. Minor established Woodlawn Male and Female Academy, a private school intended to offer more extensive educational opportunities than those generally available through the county’s developing public school system. Local tradition suggests that its earliest classes may have been held in a small log structure, although the surviving historical record more firmly establishes the academy’s formal founding in 1878.
The institution gradually attracted the support of surrounding residents. In 1891, community contributions helped purchase approximately two acres of land for a new school building, and contractor Jason Wiley Dobyns worked with William P. Morris, Henderson Burnett, Alex Farmer, and others to construct a three-room frame academy. Its architectural features, including a decorative entrance and bell tower, reflected the importance residents placed on education and their hopes that Woodlawn would become a respected preparatory school.
The Commonwealth of Virginia formally chartered Woodlawn Male and Female Academy in 1892. By the middle of the decade, Everett E. Worrell, a graduate of the College of William and Mary, was serving as its principal, and the institution was developing a reputation extending beyond the immediate community.
A major change came in 1898 when the academy introduced additional courses intended to prepare students for teacher certification examinations. This expansion gave rise to the Woodlawn Normal Institute, which combined general academic instruction with teacher preparation. The school offered music, public speaking, and other subjects alongside its traditional coursework, while boarding accommodations made attendance possible for students who could not travel home each day.
The institute’s surviving catalogs provide an especially valuable record of these years. Tuition rates, boarding charges, teacher assignments, and course offerings demonstrate that Woodlawn had become more than a neighborhood school. It was an educational institution drawing young people from across southwestern Virginia and neighboring North Carolina.
The development was not without setbacks. A fire in January 1903 destroyed the original boarding hall, forcing the school to replace one of its most important buildings. A larger three-story dormitory was constructed in 1904, allowing the institution to continue housing students and teachers.
During the 1904–1905 academic year, the institute enrolled approximately 204 students. Its faculty included principal John T. Wassom, associate principal Vance M. Cox, music and elocution instructor Mamie G. Ward, primary teacher Lillian C. Baughman, and librarian Cora C. Vaughn. Baseball, football, tennis, and track were among the athletic activities available to students, reflecting a school whose academic and extracurricular programs were expanding together.
The Cooley Brothers and Carroll County’s First Public High School
One of the most consequential developments in Woodlawn’s history began in January 1905, when identical twin brothers Elbert M. Cooley and Elmer J. Cooley acquired the academy and normal institute.
Both men were graduates of the College of William and Mary and had previously operated Fairview Male and Female Academy east of Hillsville. Their arrival in Woodlawn coincided with a statewide effort to improve Virginia’s public schools through better facilities, more qualified teachers, and expanded secondary education.
Elbert Cooley became Carroll County’s first school superintendent in 1905, while Elmer continued to oversee the educational institution at Woodlawn. Their efforts gained additional importance after Virginia enacted the Mann High School bill of 1906, legislation that encouraged the establishment of public high schools across the Commonwealth.
In the fall of 1907, Woodlawn opened as Carroll County’s first public high school. This was a significant distinction because the county already possessed numerous public elementary schools, but opportunities for publicly supported secondary education had remained limited.
The school initially operated through several departments, including primary grades, preparatory instruction, secondary education, teacher training, music, and elocution. Woodlawn’s transition from private academy to public high school represented a major expansion of educational opportunity for families throughout the surrounding area.
Construction soon began on a substantial brick school building designed by Roanoke architect H. H. Huggins. The project cost approximately $9,000, with $4,000 provided by Carroll County, $2,000 borrowed from Virginia’s Literary Fund, and $3,000 contributed by local residents.
Completed in 1908 and placed into service on January 19, 1909, the new building featured a two-story design with a prominent entrance and bell tower. It became an architectural landmark and an expression of the community’s investment in public education.
Woodlawn’s first public high school graduating class completed its studies in June 1910, when fourteen students received their diplomas.
By 1911, the school possessed five classrooms, a science laboratory, a library containing approximately 2,500 volumes, and an auditorium capable of seating roughly four hundred people. Its boarding facilities could accommodate approximately one hundred students, and the grounds included extensive space for athletics.
For a rural community in the early twentieth century, these facilities were substantial. They allowed Woodlawn to provide educational opportunities that previously might have required families to send their children far from home.
The Smith-Hughes Act and a Revolution in Agricultural Education
Woodlawn’s greatest historical distinction emerged in 1917, when the school became a pioneer in vocational agricultural education.
The federal Smith-Hughes Act, enacted that year, provided funding to support vocational instruction in agriculture, trade, industry, and home economics. For rural communities whose economies depended heavily on farming, the legislation offered an opportunity to connect classroom instruction with practical skills that could improve agricultural production and household livelihoods.
Carroll County superintendent J. Lee Cox, himself a former Woodlawn Academy student, became an enthusiastic advocate for bringing the new program to Woodlawn. According to an account published by Ben Hibbs in The Country Gentleman in October 1937, Cox traveled to Richmond and personally appealed to state education officials while they were considering the distribution of Smith-Hughes funds.
His efforts helped secure support from Governor Henry C. Stuart and the State Board of Education. Woodlawn became Virginia’s first high school to offer vocational agriculture under the legislation, and a Virginia historical marker erected in 2010 identifies it as the first school in the United States to begin such instruction under the Smith-Hughes Act.
Fred R. Kirby became the school’s first vocational agriculture instructor in July 1917, and community contributions helped finance the construction of a dedicated agricultural classroom and workshop.
The program was designed around the needs of Carroll County farmers. Students learned about soil improvement, crop production, livestock management, fertilization, erosion control, and agricultural business practices. Rather than confining these subjects to textbooks, the curriculum encouraged students to apply their knowledge to the farms operated by their families.
The program’s influence grew during the following decades. In 1926, Virginia Polytechnic Institute graduate William L. Creasy joined Woodlawn High School as its agricultural instructor, and the following year he organized a chapter of the Future Farmers of Virginia.
Creasy and Fred Kirby, who later directed agricultural education at Hillsville High School, worked closely with farmers throughout Carroll County. They offered evening instruction, encouraged improved methods of crop rotation and fertilization, and assisted with the development of agricultural cooperatives and livestock marketing opportunities.
Their work also contributed to the establishment of a Carnation Milk plant in nearby Galax, which used milk supplied through agricultural activities associated with Woodlawn and Hillsville High Schools.
By February 1938, Woodlawn’s agricultural department enrolled sixty-seven young men. District agricultural education supervisor J. O. Hoge described the program as the largest in Virginia and the third largest in the United States.
Creasy earned recognition as Master Teacher of Vocational Agriculture of the South in 1936 and Master Teacher of Vocational Agriculture of Virginia in 1937. His achievements reflected the reputation Woodlawn had developed as a center of agricultural education extending well beyond Carroll County.
For many families, the program’s greatest contribution was practical rather than ceremonial. Instruction in farming methods helped improve crop yields, encouraged diversification, and supported greater investment in dairy and beef production. Through the work of teachers and students, the school became an institution capable of influencing the local economy outside its classrooms.
Home Economics and the Education of Rural Families
Agricultural instruction was only one part of Woodlawn’s expanding vocational curriculum. Beginning in 1916, the school offered home economics classes intended to provide training in household management, nutrition, sewing, food preparation, and related subjects.
During the 1920s, school officials sought to give the program its own facilities. R. Soloman Gardner became principal in 1925, while his wife, Pearle Gardner, directed domestic science instruction.
Pearle Gardner helped organize financial support for a dedicated home economics cottage, reporting to the Carroll County School Board in November 1925 that local subscriptions had produced approximately $500 toward construction. The county committed additional funding, and the building was completed in 1926.
The cottage eventually provided specialized space for lessons in meal planning, domestic organization, household equipment, and other aspects of home economics education. Later instructors, including Oleta M. Webb, continued developing these courses while cooperating with agricultural extension agents and other community educators.
Although such programs reflected the gender expectations of their time, they also represented part of a broader effort to make public education more directly relevant to the daily responsibilities and economic circumstances of rural households.
Woodlawn’s educational influence increasingly extended to adults as well. Farmers attended evening classes, families received information through agricultural and domestic science programs, and the school grounds hosted activities that connected students, teachers, and residents.
Woodlawn’s Businesses, Roads, and Community Life
While the school became Woodlawn’s most extensively documented institution, the surrounding community possessed a broader history of businesses, family homes, roads, and local industry.
The Carroll County Historical Society has preserved some of this history through its journal, Carroll County Chronicles. Two issues published in the spring and summer of 2006 were devoted specifically to Woodlawn, collecting articles on former residents, community landmarks, schools, businesses, and other aspects of local life.
Among the subjects identified in these publications are Winesett’s Store, the Oak Hill residence, the Copper Hill Mine, Mount Nebo School, and the history of U.S. Route 58 through the community. Other articles examine the house at 1101 Woodlawn Road and local figures such as Gooch Harmon, remembered in the journal’s title as the “Mayor of Woodlawn.”
These records are important because they preserve the names of places and individuals that might otherwise disappear from community history. A store, an older residence, or a former schoolhouse may not possess the statewide significance of Woodlawn High School, but each can provide evidence of how residents worked, traveled, and maintained social relationships over generations.
Transportation was particularly important in connecting Woodlawn to neighboring communities. The development and improvement of roads through Carroll County gradually changed travel between rural settlements and larger commercial centers, while U.S. Route 58 became one of the principal east-to-west connections through the area.
An article specifically concerning Route 58 in 1937 appears in the Historical Society’s Summer 2006 Woodlawn issue, while additional county road maps survive from the 1930s and later decades. These sources provide opportunities to trace how changes in transportation affected the community’s relationship with Galax, Hillsville, and neighboring settlements.
Postal service was another important part of rural connectivity. Historical records compiled by the United States Postal Service identify Woodlawn among Virginia communities receiving early rural free delivery service, with an effective date of December 1, 1903.
Together, the surviving commercial histories, road records, postal documents, and community publications illustrate a rural settlement whose development depended on connections among farms, households, schools, and nearby towns.
The Great Depression and the Works Progress Administration
The economic difficulties of the Great Depression placed considerable pressure on Carroll County’s educational system. School buildings required repairs and additional space, but local governments struggled to finance improvements while residents faced declining incomes and uncertain employment.
Woodlawn High School was among the institutions requiring significant attention. By the early 1930s, officials considered parts of the existing structure inadequate, and Carroll County sought financial assistance through state and federal programs.
The establishment of the Works Progress Administration in 1935 provided new possibilities for school construction and renovation. Federal funding could help supply labor and materials while also providing employment to workers affected by the Depression.
Woodlawn’s renovation began in 1936 and was completed in December 1937. Workers installed new roofing, flooring, and interior finishes, converted the original auditorium into classrooms, and constructed a new auditorium with additional instructional space.
The project helped modernize the campus at a time when enrollment continued to grow. By February 1938, eleven teachers were instructing 383 students across the elementary and secondary grades, with additional specialized instruction in agriculture and home economics.
Woodlawn’s experience illustrates how federal relief programs influenced rural Appalachian communities beyond their immediate employment benefits. The improvements provided public facilities that would continue serving residents long after the Depression ended.
The Postwar Years, Expansion, and the 1960 Fire
Woodlawn continued changing during the Second World War and the decades that followed. The school remained an important center for vocational instruction, while its agricultural facilities supported programs intended to improve farming practices and assist returning veterans.
Emmett C. Gardner, a Virginia Polytechnic Institute graduate and World War II veteran, became an influential agricultural instructor during the late 1940s. He directed Woodlawn’s agricultural department from 1948 until his death in 1961 and helped establish the community’s Ruritan Club.
The school also played a role in Carroll County’s public library system. In 1941, the county public library moved from Hillsville High School to Woodlawn, where it remained associated with the campus until changes in space requirements eventually led to its relocation.
Increasing enrollment brought pressure for further expansion. A four-classroom addition was completed in 1953, but within a few years the school again faced overcrowding. Parents and teachers pressed county officials to provide sufficient instructional space, illustrating how strongly the community continued to support its educational institutions.
A major setback occurred on January 26, 1960, when a fire destroyed the wooden building that had replaced the original boarding hall in 1904.
By that time, the former dormitory had been adapted to other uses, including classrooms and cafeteria space. Its destruction displaced students and forced school officials to improvise temporary accommodations.
Fifth-grade students initially attended classes on the auditorium stage, while ninth-grade students used the auditorium for homeroom. Woodlawn Methodist Church, located across the road, subsequently made its basement fellowship hall available for fifth-grade instruction until the end of the school year.
The fire attracted contemporary newspaper attention, including reports in the Galax Gazette and Daily Press. It also accelerated the need for additional construction.
A temporary three-classroom building was completed in August 1960, while the county pursued financing for a much larger expansion. The resulting project, designed by Smithey and Boynton, added classrooms, cafeteria facilities, offices, and specialized instructional areas.
By September 1962, the new building was substantially complete, and Woodlawn School enrolled approximately 747 students.
These developments reflected the transformation of a nineteenth-century academy into a large public educational campus serving multiple generations of Carroll County residents.
Student Life, Integration, and the End of Woodlawn High School
By the early 1960s, Woodlawn High School offered an extensive range of academic, agricultural, recreational, and extracurricular activities.
Students participated in organizations such as the Future Farmers of America, Future Homemakers of America, student government, and academic clubs. They published the school newspaper, The Reminder, and an annual yearbook, The Raider, while basketball, baseball, cheerleading, and music programs contributed to campus life.
The formation of a marching band in 1963 further expanded the school’s musical activities, connecting formal education with the broader importance of music in Carroll County.
Woodlawn also participated in the changes to public education brought about by the Civil Rights Movement. Following the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Carroll County adopted a school desegregation plan in September 1965.
Under that arrangement, the county’s older African American students attended Woodlawn High School, while younger Black students were assigned to Gladeville Elementary School. The surviving school-board records document an important transition in a county where educational opportunities had previously been separated by race.
Another major change came in 1969, when Carroll County completed its new consolidated high school in Hillsville.
Woodlawn High School graduated its final senior class in June 1969. Beginning that fall, students in the county’s upper high school grades attended Carroll County High School, bringing the local high school’s sixty-two-year history to a close.
The decision reflected a broader movement toward consolidated educational facilities, but it also affected the identities of communities whose high schools had served as important local institutions.
Woodlawn itself did not close. Instead, it became an intermediate school, continuing to educate younger students from Woodlawn and surrounding communities.
Woodlawn Intermediate School and the Changing Community
The school’s conversion to an intermediate campus marked another chapter in its institutional history.
During the early 1970s, Carroll County officials undertook an extensive modernization program designed to accommodate new educational requirements and growing student populations. Woodlawn received a major addition completed in April 1974, including a gymnasium, library, music facilities, administrative offices, and specialized classrooms.
The campus also continued serving adults and community organizations. The former home economics cottage was adapted for adult education, while other facilities supported recreation, meetings, performances, and public events.
Woodlawn Intermediate School drew students from several surrounding areas, including Laurel, Oakland, Gladeville, and Fancy Gap. Changes in school attendance boundaries and grade assignments during the following decades reflected continuing efforts to reorganize Carroll County’s educational system.
In 1993, another countywide reorganization altered Woodlawn’s grade structure. Additional changes followed in 2005, when the campus began operating primarily as a middle school serving sixth- and seventh-grade students.
Woodlawn School finally closed in June 2013, ending more than a century of educational use associated with the community.
For residents who had attended the academy, high school, intermediate school, or middle school over different generations, the closure represented the end of a long institutional tradition. Yet the building and grounds remained important physical reminders of Woodlawn’s history.
The Stonemans and Woodlawn’s Appalachian Musical Heritage
Woodlawn’s significance extends far beyond education. The community and surrounding parts of Carroll County are closely associated with the development of traditional Appalachian music and the early commercial country music industry.
Among the best-known musicians connected with the area was Ernest V. “Pop” Stoneman, born in the nearby Monarat community on May 25, 1893, and raised in the surrounding region.
Stoneman learned traditional songs and instrumental techniques within the musical environment of the Blue Ridge Mountains, developing skills on instruments including guitar, autoharp, and harmonica. In 1924, he traveled to New York to begin making commercial recordings, entering an industry that was only beginning to recognize the commercial possibilities of rural southern music.
His early recording career included the widely successful song “The Titanic,” which became one of the important recordings of country’s first commercial era.
Stoneman’s success eventually encouraged the participation of relatives and neighboring musicians, including his wife, Hattie Frost Stoneman, and other performers associated with the emerging family ensemble. Their recordings preserved traditional ballads, religious songs, sentimental pieces, and instrumental music from the Appalachian region.
His commercial influence also helped create opportunities for other musicians. The success of his recordings contributed to Victor Records producer Ralph Peer’s decision to organize the landmark 1927 Bristol recording sessions, during which the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers made their first recordings.
The Stoneman family’s musical career continued across subsequent decades, reaching national audiences through radio, recordings, television, and live performances. Ernest Stoneman was posthumously inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2008.
Woodlawn’s musical heritage is not limited to the Stonemans. Historical markers along Virginia’s Crooked Road Heritage Music Trail also recognize the region’s connections with musicians and instrument makers such as Kyle Creed, Kilby Snow, and members of the Melton family.
Creed became influential in the development and preservation of old-time banjo playing, while Snow was celebrated for his distinctive autoharp technique. The Melton family’s musical traditions included the making and playing of Appalachian dulcimers, demonstrating how the area’s cultural history included both performance and instrument craftsmanship.
The Smithsonian Recordings and the Preservation of Mountain Music
Some of the strongest surviving evidence of Woodlawn’s traditional music comes from collections maintained by the Smithsonian Institution.
The J. Scott Odell Folk Music Collection contains recordings made during the 1960s that document traditional musicians across southwestern Virginia and neighboring communities. Among these are 1966 sessions featuring Raymond Melton and Sid Meyers, including recordings identified as having taken place at Ike Frost’s in Woodlawn.
The recordings preserve music associated with the dulcimer and banjo traditions of the region and provide direct evidence of musical practices that might otherwise survive only through later recollections.
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History also preserves an Appalachian dulcimer made by Floyd A. Gardner in Woodlawn in 1966. The instrument, constructed with three strings, heart-shaped sound holes, and a carved pegbox, is a surviving example of the craftsmanship associated with the area’s mountain music.
Together, the recordings and preserved instruments demonstrate that Woodlawn participated in a broader Appalachian musical network extending through Carroll County, Galax, and neighboring communities in Virginia and North Carolina.
That tradition developed long before commercial recording companies began documenting mountain music and continued through local gatherings, family performances, festivals, and the work of collectors who recognized its historical importance.
Historic Recognition and a New Life for Woodlawn School
Although Woodlawn School closed in 2013, the history contained within its buildings helped inspire an effort to preserve the campus.
The Virginia Department of Historic Resources recognized the site’s importance to education, agriculture, and social history, and Woodlawn School was added to the Virginia Landmarks Register on September 20, 2018. It subsequently entered the National Register of Historic Places on January 17, 2019.
The designation recognized the unusual survival of a campus whose buildings reflected several distinct periods of public education. Its original brick school, agricultural facilities, home economics cottage, and later additions demonstrated how rural educational institutions adapted to changing needs across the twentieth century.
Preservation also opened the possibility of giving the abandoned school a new purpose.
Carroll County officials worked with Virginia Housing and developer Landmark Asset Services to explore converting the historic buildings into affordable rental housing. Their efforts combined historic rehabilitation financing with affordable housing programs, allowing the project to proceed while retaining significant elements of the school’s architecture.
Construction began in September 2020 and was completed near the end of 2021, creating fifty-one affordable apartments within the former school property.
A report published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond in May 2023 described the project as an example of how rural communities could preserve historically important buildings while addressing contemporary housing needs.
The rehabilitation also maintained connections between the property and the surrounding community, including continued public use of recreational facilities through arrangements with Carroll County.
The project gave Woodlawn School a new role without completely separating the building from its past. Classrooms that had once served generations of local children became living spaces, while the preservation of the campus ensured that an important chapter of Carroll County’s history remained visible.
Woodlawn’s Place in Appalachian History
Woodlawn’s history illustrates how a rural Appalachian community could influence developments far beyond its immediate boundaries.
The school that began as a private academy in 1878 became Carroll County’s first public high school, helped pioneer vocational agricultural education, and contributed to changes in farming practices that affected the wider region. Its buildings also served as gathering places through periods of economic hardship, educational reorganization, and social change.
Beyond the campus, Woodlawn’s historic stores, residences, roads, and family histories reveal a community shaped by everyday work and local relationships. Its musical heritage connects the area to some of the most important developments in American country and traditional music, while Smithsonian recordings and surviving instruments preserve evidence of the musicians who carried those traditions forward.
The preservation of Woodlawn School demonstrates another part of that history. Even after its original educational purpose ended, the community found a way to retain the institution that had occupied such a central place in local life.
Today, the story of Woodlawn survives through historical records, former students, family memories, music, and the buildings that remain along its roads. What began as a small mountain academy became part of a much larger story about rural education, agricultural innovation, and the cultural influence of southwestern Virginia.
Woodlawn may be a modest community in geographic size, but its history reminds us that the development of Appalachia was shaped not only by its larger towns and industries, but also by places where families invested in education, passed down traditions, and worked to preserve what earlier generations had built.
Sources & Further Reading
Fearnbach, Heather. “Woodlawn School.” National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, 2018. Virginia Department of Historic Resources and National Park Service. https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/017-5160_WoodlawnSchool_2018_NRHP_FINAL.pdf
Virginia Department of Historic Resources. “Woodlawn School (017-5160).” Virginia Landmarks Register and National Register of Historic Places. https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/historic-registers/017-5160/
Virginia Department of Historic Resources. “DHR Adds Six Places to Virginia Landmarks Register in September (2018).” September 20, 2018. https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/press-release-posts/dhr-adds-six-places-to-virginia-landmarks-register-in-september-2018/
Carroll County Historical Society. Carroll County Chronicles. Vol. 25, “Woodlawn.” Spring 2006. https://carrollvamuseum.org/museum/news/carroll-county-chronicles/
Carroll County Historical Society. Carroll County Chronicles. Vol. 26, “Woodlawn.” Summer 2006. https://carrollvamuseum.org/museum/news/carroll-county-chronicles/
Carroll County Historical Society. Carroll County Chronicles. Vol. 30, no. 2, “Hodgepodge of This and That.” Summer 2011. https://carrollvamuseum.org/museum/news/carroll-county-chronicles/
Carroll County Historical Society and Museum. “Woodlawn High School History.” https://carrollvamuseum.org/museum/museum/woodlawn-high-school-history/
Carroll County Virginia Digital History. “Newspapers.” Collection of historical Carroll County newspapers and contemporary community records. https://www.ccva.digital/newspapers.html
Carroll County Virginia Digital History. “School Census.” Historical educational records of Carroll County, Virginia. https://www.ccva.digital/school-census.html
Carroll County Virginia Digital History. “Road Maps: Carroll.” Historical road maps documenting transportation and geographic development in Carroll County. https://www.ccva.digital/road-maps—carroll.html
United States Federal Board for Vocational Education. Annual Report of the Federal Board for Vocational Education, 1917. House Document No. 617, 65th Congress, 2nd Session. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1917. https://www.va.gov/vetdata/docs/FBVEFY1917.pdf
Virginia Department of Historic Resources. “Woodlawn School.” Virginia Historical Highway Marker U-27a, erected 2010. Transcribed by the Historical Marker Database. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=104653
The Crooked Road: Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail. “Woodlawn.” Historical marker documenting the community’s musical heritage. Historical Marker Database. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=104648
Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. “Ernest V. ‘Pop’ Stoneman.” https://www.countrymusichalloffame.org/hall-of-fame/ernest-v-pop-stoneman
Smithsonian Institution. “J. Scott Odell Folk Music Collection, 1964–1977.” Smithsonian Online Virtual Archives, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. https://sova.si.edu/record/cfch.odel
Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History. “Gardner Appalachian Dulcimer.” Museum collection record, instrument manufactured in Woodlawn, Virginia, 1966. https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object/nmah_606068
United States Soil Conservation Service. Carroll County, Virginia. Map. Lanham, MD: Soil Conservation Service, 1979. Library of Congress Geography and Map Division. https://www.loc.gov/item/82693329/
Library of Virginia. “Carroll County Microfilm.” County and City Records on Microfilm, including historical charters, deeds, court orders, and land records. https://www.lva.virginia.gov/collections/ccmf/VA/VA053
Library of Virginia. “Carroll County (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1842–1914 (Bulk 1880–1912).” Archival collection. Archives of Virginia. https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/vi_vi05181
Library of Virginia. “Chancery Records Index.” Historical court records and digitized legal documents from Virginia counties. https://www.lva.virginia.gov/collections/chancery
Howlett, Michael. “Woodlawn School Closing After Century of Service.” The Carroll News, May 22, 2013. Republished by WXII 12 News. https://www.wxii12.com/article/woodlawn-school-closing-after-century-of-service/2050404
Stoney, Sierra. “Rural Spotlight: Giving the Old High School a Second Life as Affordable Housing in Carroll County.” Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, May 18, 2023. https://www.richmondfed.org/region_communities/rural/rural_spotlights/2023/rs_20230518
National Park Service. National Register of Historic Places Weekly Lists, 2018–2019. Includes the listing of Woodlawn School, Carroll County, Virginia, January 17, 2019. https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalregister/upload/weekly-list-2018-national-register-of-historic-places.pdf
Virginia Cooperative Extension. An In-depth Look at Virginia Cooperative Extension’s History. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. https://ext.vt.edu/content/dam/ext_vt_edu/about/An%20In-depth%20Look%20at%20Virginia%20Cooperative%20Extension%27s%20History.pdf
Author Note: Woodlawn’s history reminds us that even small Appalachian communities have made remarkable contributions to education, agriculture, and American music. I hope this article helps preserve the stories of the families, teachers, farmers, and musicians who helped shape this corner of Carroll County.