In the devastated economic aftermath of the Civil War, Oliver Hazard Perry Fant (O. H. P. Fant) purchased much of the farm and forest lands lying immediately south and east of the Cherry Farm at the junction of the Blue Ridge Railway and Seneca River. Apparently Mr. Fant had a vision of restoring a community of farmers, many of whom would be his tenants. While he was a major contributor to the growth and development of the city of Anderson, it is the landscape of his farmlands and those of his neighbors that stand as a memorial to his name today -- Fants Grove.

Mr. Fant donated land for a church, currently Fants Grove Baptist Church, and 4.34 acres for a school and nearby spring for a source of water to Anderson County. In Anderson County School System records School District #72 was labeled Fairview District, the name taken from Fairview School built on the Fant-donated land. The name itself was likely derived from the view to the North where one could see the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains and lands that lay in Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. However, to all the local people, including the children that attended there, it was Fants Grove School.

Prior to the construction of the Fants Grove School in 1902, students were schooled at the church. One can only imagine the excitement in the community of mostly tenant farmers when the new school was opened. The two-story wood structure had three classrooms on the ground floor and a large auditorium on the second floor. It was heated with wood stoves, and equipped with both single and double desks (view remnants), hyloplate blackboards, and a glass map case. Throughout much of its history, Fants Grove students carried water from a spring located approximately 1/4 mile west of the school. At some point a drilled well was installed and equipped with a handpump.

In the period 1910 to 1920 the school had over 100 students enrolled. It was one of the largest rural schools in Anderson County. However, as in all rural communities of the time, attendance rates varied greatly according to weather, and times of planting and harvest. State law mandated the school year to be seven months in length. In the average year, 60-70 students completed their grade level studies in reading, writing, arithmetic, history, and geography.

Cotton and corn dominated the landscape throughout the history of Fants Grove School. Cotton was for money. Corn was largely for the sustenance of people and their livestock. However, year after year of row cropping on highly erodable soils resulted in drops in productivity. In addition, rampant invasion of the bole weevil was having devastating impacts. Concurrently, cotton prices were dropping. An already poor community began to face true poverty. Tenant farmers and sharecroppers began to migrate to the cotton mills and their mill towns in order to survive. As one of South Carolina's largest producers of manufactured cotton goods, Anderson County offered an alternative way of life to people who were completely at the mercy of degraded land, insect pestilence, highly variable weather conditions, and market values that they could not influence.

In 1918, O. H. P. Fant's son and heir sold several parcels of his lands. J.J. Fretwell bought one of the larger parcels, 1655 acres, which lay north of the school site. R. L. Weldon purchased 46 acres that bordered the school site to the south.

People emigrated from the Fants Grove Community until, in the early 1930s, there were only 12 children enrolled at the School. The Fretwell and Weldon properties were sold to the U. S. Government for the purposes of the Clemson Community Conservation Project between 1935 and 1940. The school was closed in 1946. The Anderson School District auctioned the school property in 1947. It was sold to John J. Swaney. Mr. Swaney sold the property to Clemson College for the amazing sum of $4000 in 1951. The building was sold at auction at a later date for the salvageable lumber. View the water drain remnant of the old school house.

In 2003, a few of the Fants Grove School students are still living in the local area, although, of course, most are gone. Across the road from the school site and in the Fants Grove Baptist Church Cemetery lies the grave of Mrs. Lessie Jones, who lived her entire life in the Fants Grove Community, and who was one of the school's teachers.

Now only these concrete remains of the old foundation and steps, overgrown with exotic bamboo, remind us of the once rural school and school yard decorated with the laughter, tears, hopes, dreams, and fears of the children who once were here.

Kathleen Dooley, Ph.D.
Gene W. Wood, Professor and Extension Trails Specialist
Clemson University