Narrative
Design / Layout Map
Design Narrative
The Buckingham Training School [BTS] Campus, 1923-1954, located at 245 Camden Street, Dillwyn, Virginia 23936 is the site of the first African America Secondary School in Buckingham County, later becoming Stephen J. Ellis Elementary School, 1954-1965. This 9.25 acre campus is being developed into a modern community park with features to accommodate all family members. It is called Ellis Acres Memorial Park in recognition of the leadership and vision displayed by Reverend Stephen J. Ellis to establish the Buckingham Training School with the assistance of student and parent contributions [$3,000], Rosenwald Funds [$1,100] and county funds [$1,000]. The land is currently owned by the Town of Dillwyn, and the park is being developed by the Ellis Acres Memorial Park, Inc. Executive Committee consisting of the individuals listed below.
Karl R. Cater, Finance Director for Buckingham County
William F. Davis, Community Volunteer
Wilbert M. Dean, Former BTS Student
Diane Holman James, Dillwyn Town Council Member
William G. “Billy” Kidd, County Sheriff
Danny LeSueur, Buckingham County BOS
Faye Shumaker, Director Traffic & Customer Accounts, Kyanite Mining Corp.
Ellis Acres Memorial Park, Inc was incorporated March 29, 2007 and obtained tax exempt status under section 501 [c] [3] of the Internal Revenue Code on July 13, 2007
The Ellis Acres Team was successful obtaining two major grants in 2009.
1. National Trust for Historic Preservation and Lowe’s celebrated Black History Month with a $50,000 grant to Ellis Acres Memorial Park, Inc to help restore historic Buckingham Training School Shop Building. Lowe’s provided a second $1 million grant to the National Trust for Historic Preservation to save Buckingham Training School and 14 other Rosenwald Schools nationally from disrepair and, through adaptive reuse, to transform them into once-again vibrant facilities in their communities.
2. Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission awarded a $77,000 grant to Ellis Acres Memorial Park, Inc to assist in the restoration of Buckingham Training School Shop Building and to open a broad avenue for adult residents to prepare and develop new job skills to effectively engage the workforce challenges in the existing harsh market environment.
The Buckingham Training School restored vocational Shop Building will house a conference room, two multi-purpose rooms, industrial kitchen facilities, and a state of the art computer center with broadband services. The rooms will accommodate at-risk youth development, alternative activities for senior citizens, self-esteem enhancement sessions, individual career options expansions, GED classes, community college classes offering credentials ranging from certificates to associate degrees for graduates, and community meetings
Comments and suggestions are welcome wilbertmdean@aol.com or [804] 520-1810.
February 2008
The Ellis Acres Memorial Park, Inc. design converts the old Buckingham Training School [1923-1954] 9 ¼ acre site located at 245 Camden Street in Dillwyn into a modern community park with features to accommodate all members in the family. The history of the site is reflected in the design and offers educational as well as fitness opportunities for all visitors. The memorial structure is constructed over the foot print of the training school building. It consists of an enclosed area with patio wings to accommodate large attendance overflow. The wings are designed for temporary canvas covering during inclement weather. The steps leading uphill to the structure will be a reminiscence of the silent struggles to obtain an education. The memorial structure is an ideal setting for family reunions, weddings, religious activities, holiday ceremonies, drama presentations, meeting space for public gatherings, assembly center for senior citizens, and entertainment events. Immediately behind it is the community building that will consists of several varying sized multiple purpose rooms for at-risk-youth development, self-esteem enhancement, career options expansions, skill training in construction and shop tools, education in state and local history, substance abuse and kitchen facilities. The walls throughout the building will be decorated with pictures and drawing sharing the history of the school. This building is designed for smaller classes and assemblies as well as touring by visitors. It will also serve as a support facility or staging area for events in the larger memorial structure.
The grounds will have family size picnic pavilions among the large mature hardwood trees and landscape designed to blend with natural outdoors decorum and offer some degree of privacy. The play grounds for tots and children will offer learning, entertainment and fitness features. For instance individual height measurement markings will be decorated with labeled plants to correspond to a child actual physical height, stepping stones will be arranged in the flight pattern of the bee and tunnels will be designed in the form of living creatures. The recreation space will contain small area sports such as basketball, tennis and a skatepark. The park will be connected with a network of walking and jogging trails. Some trails will comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act [ADA] standards. Along the trails trees and plants will be identified and labeled to enhance ones knowledge of the outdoors. The park is configured to blend into the flow of activity and development in the community. There is the potential to use the park and ride concept for large gatherings to capitalize on parking facilities in Dillwyn. The park will be an attractive site for tourists visiting Buckingham.
The park progress is posted on the web page www.dillwynva.org/ellisacrespark.html Contributions to make this park a reality may be made payable to Ellis Acres Memorial Park, Inc, P. O. Box 363, Dillwyn, VA 23936. This is 501(c) (3) tax exempt organization, and all donations are tax deductible. Questions and comments may be referred to Wilbert M. Dean at (804) 520-1810 or wilbertmdean@aol.com
