Created in response to the revised Virginia Constitution of 1902, the Marriott School in King & Queen County tells the story of rural, segregated public education in Virginia, as well as responses to segregation and the ultimate integration of Virginia’s public education system. The first school on the site, built in 1909, was a direct result of the public high school mandate of the revised Virginia Constitution of 1902, which stipulated that Virginia children should be educated in segregated public schools. The Marriott School was constructed as the White high school, and served this function until 1937, when it burned. The present school building was constructed in 1938, and became a combined elementary and high school in the early 1960s. It was closed in 1969, after the county’s “freedom of choice” plans, which allowed Black children to attend either elementary school in the county, were declared unconstitutional. The closing met considerable opposition in the White community, but the school was re-opened as an integrated school, which it remained until 1992, when it was closed again. From 1994 until late 2001, the Marriott School operated as a branch of the Pamunkey Regional Library.
Many properties listed in the registers are private dwellings and are not open to the public, however many are visible from the public right-of-way. Please be respectful of owner privacy.
Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
Programs
DHR has secured permanent legal protection for over 700 historic places - including 15,000 acres of battlefield lands
DHR has erected 2,532 highway markers in every county and city across Virginia
DHR has registered more than 3,317 individual resources and 613 historic districts
DHR has engaged over 450 students in 3 highway marker contests
DHR has stimulated more than $4.2 billion dollars in private investments related to historic tax credit incentives, revitalizing communities of all sizes throughout Virginia