Pine Grove School May Day returns

Pine Grove Elementary School was alive again.

The school grounds pulsated with laughter, the aroma of food, the squeals of children cooling off with water balloons as they enjoyed numerous crafts and the opportunity to learn about the benefits of solar energy and the history of Pine Grove School.

The oppressive heat did not dampen the spirits of the May Day Community Celebration attendees who recently participated in the first May Day celebration at Pine Grove Elementary School in more than 50 years.

May Day is a celebration that occurs in the spring and culminates with the wrapping of the Maypole, which occurred at the recent celebration. The wrapping of the Maypole was coordinated by former student Michael D. Scales, who is the grandson of one of the first teacher at Pine Grove, Mary E. Gilliam, and son of the last teacher, Betty Gilliam Scales.

“May Day brought community, family members, and former students together in a way I had never seen growing up in Cumberland County,” Coordinator Muriel Miller Branch said in a statement. “The energy, synergy, camaraderie and spirit of community were palatable!”

Pine Grove School had been established in 1917 to provide African-American students with an education prior to integration. Pine Grove School closed in 1964, but the building remains standing.

Sonja Branch-Wilson, Branch’s daughter, is an organizer for the Agee Miller Mayo Dungy (AMMD) Pine Grove Project, an initiative to preserve and promote the school’s historical significance. Agee, Miller, Mayo and Dungy are the four original surnames in Branch’s and Branch-Wilson’s family tree.

The school is located close to the 1,143 acres of property for the Green Ridge landfill, which was approved by the Cumberland County Board of Supervisors in the summer of 2018.

As Branch-Wilson and the other members were considering community opportunities, she thought about re-enacting the May Day celebrations previously held at the school.

The members had a short window of time to prepare, but Branch-Wilson said the motivation to bring former students and the community together was enough.

“Day by day it became more clear to me that a school with such humble beginnings produced a new community of African-American learners in the segregated South, who before did not have the opportunity to receive a formal education,” Branch-Wilson said. “I began to have visions or ‘mind movies’ of my grandfather, a few of his siblings close to his age along with his cousins and friends, being some of the first attendees of the school in the early years. This was my motivation to ensure that this event was a success coupled with our desire to not only inform the community of our purpose, but to simply bring the community together; to bridge the racial and generational divide.”

Participants throughout Virginia came to celebrate the school’s history.

Activities included face painting, spring crafts, relay races, music, dancing and presentations. Branch spoke about the school’s history and her own experiences as a student.

There was a STEM presentation by Dr. Mary Finely-Brook of the University of Richmond, who demonstrated how solar panels were able to power five fans inside of the schoolhouse. Other activities included planting inside a newly-developed children’s garden at the school, and match boxes that children decorated that included the name of the school and the years the school operated. Children then picked pine needles and filled the empty matchboxes with fragrant pine needles to represent Pine Grove School.

Branch-Wilson said among the most significant parts of the event was the wrapping of the maypole, led by Michael Scales.

“He took time to teach several of the young children, ages ranged from kindergarten to Grade 8, on how to wrap the pole,” Branch-Wilson said. “He also provided background knowledge on how exciting of a time May Day was at Pine Grove School and just how special it was for them to participate in this event because there has not been a May Day nor wrapping of the Maypole in over 50 years, since the school closed in 1964.”

To learn more about the project, visit the AMMD Pine Grove Project Facebook page or contact organizers directly at ammdpinegroveproject@gmail.com.

This article has been corrected from its original version.