The Exeter school was located upon the south side of the valley on a hillside with an unpaved road graded out of the hill from its western area up to the school. From the north end of the building a walkway was put up from the creek to the school for those who lived in the north and eastern (lower end) of Exeter.
The school building was a well-built, well-kept building, framed in and weatherboarded on the outside with poplar weatherboarding. It was painted in ivory color and trimmed in green. The building faced northwest. Each room had large windows on each exposed side and the lower section of the windows could be raised for "cooling" in warm weather. Each room had a large round stove. The stove burned coal for heating in cold weather, and considering the area of the room, it heated very well.
The building consisted of four large rooms, a wide hall in the center to the back. Wide double doors opened in the front, with a porch and steps on each side of the porch leading up to the entrance. The southwest side was used when marching in by the third, sixth, and seventh grades, and the northeast side for primer, second, fourth and fifth. The northeast side of the play area was called the "girls' side" and consisted of a drinking fountain and an outdoor toiled used by females. The northwest side consisted of an outdoor toilet for males and the coal house for storing coal for the heating stoves. In later years the water fountain was put in the hall inside the building.
I started school in the Exeter Grade School in the 1931-32 school year, and my primer and second grade teacher was Ms. Darnell. The third was Ms. Hughes, and she also taught half of the fourth grade. The other half of the fourth and all of the fifth was taught by Ms. Edith Crockett. I was taught in the fifth grade by Ms. Estell Crockett, Edith Crockett's young sister. The sixth and seventh grades were taught by the school professor, Mr. Wentz Tate. All were fine teachers that taught me.
The inside of the school consisted of latticework, plastered over and painted a light color. The light was mounted in the ceiling. The seats mounted to the floor and the seat area folded up. The desk had a groove for pen and pencils and a round hole for the ink well. An area beneath the desktop was used for storage of books and papers during classes. None was permitted left over night. No damage to the building and school items inside was allowed. The blackboards, walls, seats, and wooden floors were in fine condition.
The teachers were Virginia State teachers and were qualified -- had degrees from college. They informed the students what they were there for, to teach . And we, the students, were there to learn! They stated what was expected of us, and did so in a nice, kindly manner, but firmly. We had no problems and the majority of students highly respected the teachers.
The slope of the hill where the school sat was so angled that the back of the building was about one foot off the ground and the front ten to fifteen feet above ground. This was the reason for the steps leading up to a porch for entering the building.
In those days, radio and "radio programs" were of big interest to people. One teacher in an early grade permitted us to do a program on a make-believe radio program if our behavior was satisfactory for the week. We had a small cardboard box with knobs on it for power on and tuning and a mike made of a stick with a tiny box on the end. Our program was called "Little Jimmy Dickens" after an actual radio program at night. It was about a boy and his daddy, I believe, and he always signed off with a prayer of, "Now I lay me down to sleep." In our make-believe program, we did this also. One boy had a home-made banjo, and we'd sing with him as he thumped it. This was the second grade, I believe, or first grade. Our teacher asked questions pertaining to our "program" during the following week.
Another was in the third or fourth, the teacher read Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn on Friday if we had met the requirements like grades and conduct all week. She also questioned us on it later. That is how I learned about Mark Twain, the Mississippi River, and so on. They stressed honesty and respect, and very much so education! These two things I mentioned did not interfere with our classes, as they were on Friday after the evening recess.
We also had a Thanksgiving program and a Christmas play each year in the lower classes, and drew names and exchanged inexpensive gifts to the name we drew.