Education and Strawberry Plains College

On Strawberry Plains Hill, site of Strawberry Plains College: Rush Strong, Jake Borches, Jim Douglas, John H. Parrott. Ladies: Clara Freeland, Kate Parrott, Maggie Caldwell, Lizzie Richie, Mary Strong

There were no formal schools in the 1790's in Strawberry Plains. Most children were self-educated by reading. They took pride in their penmanship. Good grammar was spoken and it was considered a disgrace to be called a Muggin, someone who murdered the King's English. Few books were available. In 1790 the Shunem Presbyterian Church loaned books. In 1850 Daniel Meek kept records of book loans from his personal library.

Strawberry Plains College, founded by the Rev. Creed Fulton and the Methodist Church, opened on July 4, 1848 with Rev. Thomas Stringfield as superintendent. Located on the main road 15 miles east of Knoxville it was probably a modern high school but young men from Tennessee and surrounding states attended the college. Many notable men graduated from the college including Dewitt Clinton Senter, Governor of Tennessee, Andrew J. Fletcher, Tennessee's Secretary of State, R.R. Bryant, first president of Mossy Creek Seminary (Carson-Newman College), Rev. James Young, a Methodist minister, his brother, David K. Young, lawyer and circuit judge, William w. Stringfield, a major in the Confederate army, his brother, James K. Stringfield, minister, and Williams Scruggs, minister to Venezuela. The college consisted of a large center building with two wings.

A spacious boarding house was finished by 1855’s fall quarter providing facilities for students that few colleges of the day offered. It had the largest library in the region. The college offered a comprehensive and thorough course of study. Tuition, in advance for five months’ session, costs $10-$15. The cost of room and board was $30, fuel-$2, and washing-$2.

The last president of the college was Radford Gatlin, who had taught school in Paw Paw Hollow in Jefferson County and later in Knox County. In 1854 he moved to an area in Sevier County named for him, Gatlinburg. In 1860 he returned to Strawberry Plains to become the college president. In 1863 when Gatlin heard the Federal Army was about to descend on Strawberry Plains, he left his wife in the middle of the night. During the Civil War the college building burned down and never reopened. The college boarding house remained and was used as a post hospital

for wounded forfor wounded Civil War soldiers and later used as a public school in 1871. It too burned in 1882.