Poughkeepsie School in Sharp County

The old Poughkeepsie School is a beautiful stone structure in Sharp County.


The 1929 rock school buildings at Poughkeepsie in Sharp County were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.

The main rock building was constructed after the original school burned. Until the new school was completed, elementary school students finished out the term at the Church of Christ and the high school students went to the Baptist church for classes. They utilized the Masonic Lodge space on the second level of the church building.

When it was completed, the new stone building educated students up until 12th grade.

“I went to school there the first day it opened,” Ima Jean Norris pointed out with a smile. She was in the seventh grade then.

Several years afterward, another stone building was constructed and used as the agricultural classroom. A white building behind that was the elementary school.

For years the campus was the site of school reunions. “Big crowds would come from all over,” Norris pointed out.

The Poughkeepsie school served as such until just a few years ago, and now the site is owned by Cornerstone Baptist Church of Mount Pleasant in Izard County. The campus, which has been renamed Camp Cornerstone, is now used for youth camps and other related functions.