For the first time ever, visitors can now go inside the Boiling Spring Academy with virtual access in the Boiling Spring Academy 360° Tour and virtual field trip. This virtual experience allows you to independently roam each level of the school building which sits on Moores Lane near Wilson Pike. Narrators tell stories about the items inside the school like a dunce cap, oil lamp, and the McGuffey Reader. As guests navigate outside, items like the outhouse and the Fewkes Archaeological Site Mound 1 are visible.
The Boiling Spring Academy is a one room schoolhouse built in 1830. The City acquired the property in 2003 and maintains it today. The Brentwood Historic Commission restored the academy and created the educational program, “A Day in 1845,” in 2005. Since then, more than 13,500 Brentwood school students have experienced the now highly successful elementary history program centered around what it was like to go to school for a day back without electricity, running water, cellphones, or technology.
Due to COVID-19 in 2020 and schools transitioning to virtual learning and canceling field trips, the in-person program was suspended. Members of the Historic Commission partnered with Williamson County Schools to create a virtual field trip experience. Brentwood Historic Commission members Kathie Greaves and Carole Crigger led the creation of the virtual program. Crigger said, “It really is a neat opportunity for a child to sit in a classroom, built in 1832, with no distractions and learn like children did back so many years ago. They just don’t get this experience in many places today.” Greaves added, “when COVID began last spring, we knew we had to do something to allow our children to still experience this fascinating experience.”
Williamson County Schools worked in tandem with members of the Brentwood Historic Commission over the past few years to help update and approve the curriculum’s history. Most recently, the school system’s communication department loaned a videographer to turn the school’s field trip into a virtual reality. Carol Birdsong, WCS Communications Director said, “we were pleased to work with the Brentwood Historic Commission on this project, and I believe the videos will be enjoyed by students as well as community members. We are thankful for staff members like Parker Morley who loaned his talent for this project.” In total, five videos are available for students to virtually experience a glimpse into an 1800s school room with schoolmarm Kay Gilbert and the various subjects of the program which include, the history of prehistoric Native Americans, a school introduction, penmanship, reading and arithmetic. There are also supporting work guides for parents and teachers to use the program as a history lesson designed for third-grade students.
Brentwood City Commissioner and Historic Commission member, Anne Dunn, thanked Williamson County Schools for their partnership. “To have this concept now a reality is so exciting for us, and we are thrilled to be able to showcase the program,” Dunn said. “We are so appreciative of the expertise and insight school staff brought to the production,” Dunn added.
Open houses are held each third Sunday of the month from 2pm-4pm beginning in April through October. You can bike or walk up to the schoolhouse using the greenway from Crockett or Smith Parks.
Primm Historic Park, the school and Native American Prehistoric Mound Site, 900-1500 (A.D.), known as the Fewkes Site, were listed on the National Register of Historic Properties as site #80003880 in 1980. The park contains some of the most important historical and cultural resources in Tennessee as Native Americans lived and left mounds as relics of the Mississippian Period. In 2003, the Primm family donated the two acres around the academy to the City of Brentwood. The city later obtained additional acres around the academy and mounds to buffer the site from future development.
