What a wonderful find while driving through the not-so-well-traveled roads of Virginia. The Holley Grade School was established as a school for the children of former slaves. The four-room structure was the largest black elementary school in Northumberland County. The third school built here was begun in 1914 and completed in 1933 with funds raised solely within the black community. Since 1917 Holley Graded
School has remained under the trustees’ control.
Rebuilt numerous times, the Holley Graded School served the black community until 1959 when a new school opened in Lottsburg. The school stood unused until the mid-1960’s. The building now houses the Adult Literacy Program of Northumberland County. The grounds and building were registered as a national historic site and Virginia Landmark in the 1980s.