We recently received these items from members of the Haag Family, in honor of their mother, Betty L. McMichael Haag. They are a schoolyard hand bell, classroom bell, and blackboard pointer - though there is some speculation that the pointer was employed as a disciplinary tool as needed. These were all used at the Stony Gap School in Anthony Township, and have quite a detailed provenance provided by the Haags.
The Stony Gap School was located at the intersection of Stony Gap Road and Route 973. According to family tradition, local farmer John W. Good donated the land for the school. Mr. Good also served as school superintendent in 1871. According to the Junior League’s book The One-Room School, the school closed in 1952 and came down about 20 years later.
The bells and pointer survived the building’s end and came into the hands of Cora E. Quigle Good, daughter-in-law of John W. Good. She then passed them on to her daughter, Grace E. Good Bolen, who in turn gave them to her neighbor…Betty McMichael Haag, whose family has now donated them to us. The Goods and their descendants are buried in the State Road Cemetery on Daughertys Run Road, just a couple miles from where the school once stood. We are grateful for their efforts to preserve these pieces of the history of the county through the generations.