New Hope School House

The building which once housed New Hope Colored School was believed to be built early in the 20th century. When first built, it was located near Old Stone Church in what was then a part of Oconee County.  The school closed in the 1950s, and New Hope Baptist Church donated the building in 1972 to the Clemson Chapter of the SC Council on Human Relations. This civil rights organization moved the structure to the campus of the Clemson Child Development Center (CCDC), a ground-breaking childcare facility for underprivileged children. It provided classroom, library, and office space for 35 years until the CCDC moved to the Calhoun School Building in 2007.

The schoolhouse must now be moved to a new property to make way for new development.  Efforts are underway to take the building to a new location near the site of its original construction.  There, once restored to its original condition, it can become a piece of living history as the largest artifact of the Clemson Area African American Museum (CAAAM), teaching the public about the vital role it played in the local African American experience.

Do you have information on the history of the New Hope School House? If so, reach out to us here.