Mimosa School: the stone schoolhouse a community built

Out on Mimosa Road, northeast of Fayetteville, a stone schoolhouse with a tall square tower still stands. People in the Mimosa community built it themselves in 1911, and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 28, 1983.

Source: NPS National Register record 83003047 · National Register nomination: Mimosa School (1983, PDF) · Wikipedia: National Register listings in Lincoln County, Tennessee (date and map point)

Visit

Where

Mimosa Road, in the Mimosa community northeast of Fayetteville. Published street numbers for the building differ, so use the map pin.

Getting in

View from the road. We have not confirmed today's owner or any public hours, so please stay on the public road and don't go onto the grounds unless an event there is open to the public.

How far

About 5.8 miles from the Fayetteville courthouse square in a straight line.

Time

Suggestion: 10–15 minutes from the roadside. It pairs well with a back-roads drive.

Good to know

The map pin comes from the National Register's location data and hasn't been checked in person. We found no parking or restroom information; pull off only where it is safe.

Directions (Google Maps)

Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Location: National Register location data, via the Wikipedia list of National Register places in Lincoln County; not checked in person.

Before the new school

According to the 1983 nomination, Mimosa had only a one-room school with one teacher, and it held classes just three months a year. One local family led the push for something better, and the community decided to build a larger school on its own.

Source: National Register nomination: Mimosa School (1983, PDF)

Built by hand

The men of the community dug and shaped the limestone themselves. They also ran a Sears and Roebuck machine that molded the concrete blocks. The county paid only for the windows, the doors and the milled lumber.

Source: National Register nomination: Mimosa School (1983, PDF)

No record names an architect. The nomination says the design was probably a shared effort of a member of that family and two stonemasons, one from Lincoln County and one from Moore County.

Source: National Register nomination: Mimosa School (1983, PDF)

What to look for from the road

The building is shaped roughly like a T, with a tall gable-roofed wing and a smaller one-story wing with a hip roof. The first story is long, rough-faced limestone blocks; the gable ends and the upper part of the tower are rough-faced concrete blocks. The four-story tower is topped by a wooden belfry with a pyramid-shaped roof.

Source: National Register nomination: Mimosa School (1983, PDF)

Inside, in its school days

The younger grades met in the smaller wing, which was one open room. The upper grades used a big room in the larger wing, with a stage at one end. A small music room was on the second floor of the tower. The only outbuilding was a small stone privy.

Source: National Register nomination: Mimosa School (1983, PDF)

One school instead of five

When it opened, four or five small one-teacher schools within three to five miles closed. The nomination calls Mimosa “one of the first consolidated schools in Tennessee.” It taught grades one through ten and was popular enough that a dormitory was built for students and teachers who boarded there.

Source: National Register nomination: Mimosa School (1983, PDF)

After the last bell

Better roads and cars meant families no longer needed a school this close by, and Mimosa School closed in 1953. The nomination, written in 1983, says the building had served as Mimosa's community center since 1954 and was then owned by Lincoln County.

Source: National Register nomination: Mimosa School (1983, PDF)

In 2016, Lincoln County's Family and Community Education clubs held a fall event at the Mimosa Community Center on Mimosa Road, according to their posted minutes. We have not confirmed who owns the old school today or whether it is open to visitors.

Source: UT Extension Lincoln County: FCE council minutes, Oct. 11, 2016 (PDF)

On the drive: things to talk about

• School here was once open only three months a year. What would you do with the other nine?
• Neighbors cut the stone and made the blocks themselves. Can you spot the difference between the stone walls and the block walls from the road?
• Five small schools became one. How far would you have walked to get here?
• Count the windows on the tower. A music room was up there.