During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, educational and cultural opportunities were rare in isolated mountain communities. To fill these gaps, churches established home mission schools like this former Presbyterian institution, which opened in 1910. The school at one time had more than 200 students and was a vital part of educational and religious life in the mountains. In 1932, the main building burned, but its two flanking dormitories survived. The academy became a girls' primary school in 1932 until it closed in 1950. The cross-gabled frame dormitories have two-story front porches and pediments. Across the road, the manse for the minister who headed the mission is a two-story, gable-end frame building with a two-story facade porch that wraps the building's sides.