The Tuggle School was built around 1870 for the education of the children in the Tuggle area. The school still stands today. The school is located on the Hardtimes Road, Route 648. One teacher taught all grades and ages. Alice Straw and Plummer Kreye were two of the teachers.School would start in the fall when the crops were in and when the teacher decided to start and the year-end when the teacher decided usually before Christmas.

Some of the families with children in the area were: Dowdy, Booth, Paulson, Penick, Simpson, Southall, Kreye, Prince, Townsend and Baldwin. Some of these families still have family in the area. The students had to walk to school most walking a few miles. There is a spring located several hundred yards from the school where the older students would go to fetch water for the day. As far as we can figure out the school closed in the early 1920s.

In the late 1930s the school building was sold to Carrie Hancock and her son Tom. Hancock was a nurse at the Southside Community Hospital in Farmville. She added a room and made this a home for herself and her son. In 1972 after his mother’s death, Tom sold the property and school to Charles and Dorothy Southall. Tom went to live in a nursing home in Keysville. Charles and Dorothy Southall sold the property to their son Gene in 1986.

Gene still owns the property and hopes to maintain the building. The school building still looks pretty much as it did when built. There are old wide boards on the walls inside with one old glass door. The floor joists are hand hewn. An old oak tree fell after a storm in 1989; Charles Southall cut up the tree and found an old railroad spike in the trunk, probably driven by older boys in the school.

The Prospect Volunteer Fire Department Auxiliary will host their annual Pancake Supper on Feb. 16 from 5 to 7 p.m. The supper will include pancakes, sausage, bacon, apples and a drink. The cost is a donation. So come to Prospect enjoy the pancakes, the fellowship and meet family and friends.Mr. and Mrs. Jeff Smith attended The Taste of Farmville on Thursday evening.

Luncheon guest of Judy Bolt on Jan. 27 were: Flora Bolt, Steve Bolt, Jennifer Jones and son Thomas, the Rev. Jim Blackwell and Payden Murdock.

On Feb. 3 following church services, Flora Bolt, Steve Bolt, Sharon Canterbury, Haley and Payden Murdock enjoyed lunch at KFC.Friends and neighbors are extending their sincere sympathy to the family of Bonnie K. Oswald and Paul Smeleer.Appomattox P.E. Presbyterian Church at Tuggle welcomes you to worship with them each Sunday. Richard Boswell will be bringing the message at Appomattox P.E. Presbyterian Church on Sunday.

The membership of Davis Memorial Presbyterian Church at Prospect welcomes you to come and worship with them every Sunday; Sunday School is at 10 a.m. with Worship at 11 a.m. Calvary Chapel-Farmville welcomes you to worship with them on Sunday mornings at 10:30 a.m. and each week on Wednesday evening for Bible Study for all age groups at 7 p.m. The Church is located at 302 Industrial Park Road, in the former Stackpole-Carbone building.The Remnant Church welcomes you to worship with them on Wednesday nights at 6:30 p.m.; Sunday morning at 10:30 a.m.; and Sunday nights at 6:30 p.m. The pastor is Jeff Spencer. The church is located at 1825 E. Third St., Farmville in the old Cedar Brook Restaurant building.

Concord Baptist Church at 12053 Francisco Road, Farmville welcomes you to their Sunday School at 10 a.m. with worship service at 11 a.m.

I have been writing this column for 19 years and as I write this my last column I reflect back over the 19 years and remember all those I have met and how much I have enjoyed it most of the time. Thanks to each of you for sharing your news, things you have done, places you have gone and your joys and your sad times.

MARGARET STOCKTON can be reached at mom@moonstar.com.