Site of the Original Cabin

Year Erected: 1974

Marker Text: On this site stood a cabin that was the birthplace of The Berry Schools. Built prior to the Berry family's move to Oak Hill in 1871, the cabin is where three small boys from Lavender Mountain received Martha Berry’s first Sunday School lesson around 1898. Word of her kindness and interest spread, and soon the cabin was overflowing with people. In the evolution from this modest beginning to a day school, a boarding school, and finally a college, the cabin was outgrown but not forgotten. Martha Berry replaced the original cabin in 1910 with the current structure and chose the cabin to represent simplicity on the school seal, along with the Bible for religion, the lamp for learning, and the plow for work. On this foundation she built a world-renowned educational institution that thrives today.

Tips for Finding This Marker: On private road in "Oak Hill," the Martha Berry Estate near the Martha Berry Museum in Rome