Little Greenbrier Spelling Bee
The Little Greenbrier School sits in a clearing on the north side of the park. It is reachable by following a road from Metcalf Bottoms to a small parking area. One of the first things noticed is a graveyard surrounded by a weathered picket fence. Many children are buried within struck down in their early years by different types of ailments. As with most cemeteries in the Smokies, it is obvious when a sickness ran through the community just by reading the dates on the tombstones. Many of the old and young would have died during the same time.
The school itself is a simple one-room structure representative of many that once stood in this area. Unlike today, there were no set dates for school starting or ending for the year. The teachers were usually not from the immediate area. The community would pool their resources and pay them to teach lessons to the children for as long as their payment provided. In many cases, there were weeks in between school sessions. In larger communities, such as Cades Cove, a teacher could be hired from the community making schooling more routine.
We attended a ranger led program at the school that took a turn we did not expect. A retired school teacher named Miss Elsie Burrell was there to give a very informative talk on the school and what some kids went through just to get to school. Many walked for miles on trails over the nearby ridges to get a chance at some education. A small piece of this education was learning how to spell and she was about to show us how spelling bees were conducted in the late 19th to early 20th centuries.
We have all participated in spelling bees at different times throughout our years in school. They announced a word and either you rattled off the correct spelling or you did not. That was all there was to it. Well, I assure you prior experience was no preparation for what was about to be learned in this schoolhouse.
The confident air of a schoolteacher was apparent in this woman’s actions and tone of voice. As she stood there in period attire, it was not difficult to picture her giving lessons within these walls. Her mere presence demanded attention as she detailed what was to be done. The assumption this would be easy was soon shattered for there was more to this than just spelling a word. After finishing the explanation, she asked for volunteers from the group to take part. I am sure the number of people wanting to do this dwindled as her talk progressed. The handful of brave souls now gathered at the front of the schoolroom and the contest began.
For every word given, a person had to do the following.
1) Say the complete word
2) Say the first syllable
3) Spell the first syllable
4) Say the first syllable again
5) Say the first and second syllable
6) Say the second syllable
7) Spell the second syllable
8) Say the second syllable again
9) Say the first and second syllable again
As you can see this gets progressively harder and more confusing.
10) Say the first, second, and third syllable
11) Say the third syllable
12) Spell the third syllable
13) Say the third syllable again
14) Say the first, second, and third syllable again
When you have spelled the last syllable, you finish by saying the complete word once again. As you can imagine, this spelling bee was over in record time without having a winner. I have always considered myself a pretty good speller, but I was getting confused just listening to them get tongue-tied.
Thinking about the kids learning in this manner in the 1800s and early 1900s makes you wonder. Has progress given or taken away ? Is what we have gained worth what we have lost ?
Miss Elsie provided this wonderful program for the public until she was 95 years old. Sadly, she has passed on but her memory remains for those whose lives she touched as a schoolteacher and in her daily life.
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