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Settlement school

Settlement schools are social reform institutions established in rural Appalachia in the early 20th century with the purpose of educating mountain children and improving their isolated rural communities. Settlement schools have played an important role in preserving and promoting the cultural heritage of southern and central Appalachia. Scholar David Whisant has argued that settlement schools created a version of "traditional" Appalachian culture that appealed to outsiders but had little basis in the values of Appalachian people themselves.

The Appalachian settlement schools were inspired by the settlement movement that started in London in the late 19th century and was represented in the United States by urban settlement houses, including Hull House in Chicago and the Henry Street Settlement in New York City.^[1]

Hindman Settlement School, in Hindman, Kentucky, was the first rural social settlement school in the United States, established in 1902 by May Stone and Katherine Pettit at the forks of Troublesome Creek in Knott County, Kentucky. ^[1]

Pine Mountain Settlement School, in Harlan County, Kentucky, was founded by William Creech, Sr., in 1913. Creech, a local resident, donated land for the school and recruited Katherine Pettit and Ethel DeLong to establish and run the institution.^[2]

Settlement schools typically had large campuses, including dormitories for boarding students.^[3] They functioned not only as schools, but also as community centers. ^[3]

With the establishment of public schools in the region in the 1920s and 1930s, settlement schools relinquished their role in the general education of children. Pine Mountain was a boarding school for elementary and middle school-age children until about 1930, when it became a residential high school after public elementary schools were established in the region.^[2] Some settlement schools closed, but others assumed new functions over time.^[4] Hindman Settlement School offers adult education, including GED test preparation, and operates a tutorial program for people with dyslexia.^[1]^[4] Since the early 1970s Pine Mountain Settlement School has specialized in environmental education; it also has operated an elderhostel program.^[2]^[4]

List of Appalachian settlement schools

The following are examples of settlement schools and other institutions (most no longer in operation) that were first founded as settlement schools:^[5]