Teacherage was a building, often in a rural setting but on school grounds and resembling a private home, that provided living accommodations for schoolteachers. The term came into general use largely in the first quarter of the twentieth century when public schools began to be opened in rural areas of North Carolina. The teacherage was sometimes managed by a matron or local residents or was operated cooperatively by the residents themselves. The building provided private or shared bedrooms, dining facilities, parlors or reception rooms, and bathrooms. The availability of a comfortable teacherage attracted teachers to schools that otherwise would have had difficulty filling staff vacancies.
Copyright Notice: This article is from the Encyclopedia of North Carolina edited by William S. Powell. Copyright © 2006 by the University of North Carolina Press. Used by permission of the publisher. For personal use and not for further distribution. Please submit permission requests for other use directly to the publisher.
Image Credit:
"Yucca House Bear Grass, North Carolina Constructed in 1933 as the Bear Grass Teacherage." Uploaded on November 6, 2010. Photo downloaded from Flickr user Jimmy Emerson. Available from https://www.flickr.com/photos/auvet/5163960937/ (accessed April 30, 2012).
Citation
Powell, William S. "Teacherage." NCpedia. Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press. Accessed on December 13th, 2024. https://www.ncpedia.org/teacherage.