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In 1778, Presbyterian minister James Hall of Fourth Creek Meeting House organized Clio’s Nursery, a Presbyterian academy. While Hall participated in the American Revolution, the school was under the supervision of his brother-in-law James McEwen who died shortly after the appointment. After McEwen’s death, Francis Cummins, who later became a Presbyterian minister, was placed in charge.
Clio’s Nursery closed during the British invasion of North Carolina extending from May 1780 to August 1782, when it reopened under the supervision of John Newton. The school’s last teacher was Charles Caldwell, who left the academy in 1787 to establish Crowfield Academy near Centre Presbyterian Church. The school closed shortly thereafter.
Although only open for nearly a decade, the school boasted an impressive list of alumni. Former students included George Campbell, who served as secretary of the treasury in the James Madison administration, and Moses Waddell, who became president of the University of Georgia. E. F. Rockwell wrote in 1858 that a Congressman, three judges, and eight ministers also were graduates.
References:
William S. Powell, ed., Encyclopedia of North Carolina (2006)--essay by George W. Troxler
William H. Foote, Sketches of North Carolina, Historical and Biographical (1846)
Genealogical Society of Iredell County, The Heritage of Iredell County (1980)
E. F. Rockwell, “The Second Classical School in Iredell County,” North Carolina Journal of Education, I (1858)
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