Sharon Indian School

Sharon Indian School served as a center of education for the Upper Mattaponi Tribe. Tribal citizens built and furnished a one-room frame building ca. 1919. King William County replaced the original school with this brick structure in 1952. Before the desegregation of Virginia schools in the 1960s, Sharon provided a primary and limited secondary education. Its students had to attend other Native American, private, or public institutions, usually outside the commonwealth, to obtain high school diplomas. Upper Mattaponi students—and children from the Rappahannock Tribe in the 1960s—attended school here until June 1965. This was one of the last Indian schools to operate in Virginia.

Department of Historic Resources, 2024