The+Story+of+the+Crozet+Bell

This is a picture of the original Crozet School from the UVA digital library collection (http://repo.lib.virginia.edu:18080/fedora/get/uva-lib:82154/uva-lib-bdef:100/getFullView/ ). It was the Crozet High School, which opened in 1922.

Crozet fifth graders are interested in the old Crozet School because of many family connections--many of their family members attended or graduated form the old school when it was a high school and later an elementary school. They are also fascinated by an artifact--an old school bell.

This bell has been in the family of one of the fifth graders for many years--his name is Andrew Thomas Barbour and the connection is from the Sandridge side of his family. Drew's Great Grandmother, Louise Sandridge Tomlin, graduated from Crozet High School in 1928.

Drew's great -great grandfather, Lewis Sandridge, was the janitor of Crozet Elem School for years. He was there when Drew's Grandmother, Brenda Tomlin Barbour, started at Crozet Elementary in first grade. She thinks when the school was planning on getting rid of the old school bell that her Granddad said he would take it. It was moved by a wrecker from the school to the house Drew's Grandmother grew up in, right on the corner of St. George Avenue, less than two blocks from the school. For many years, it was in her backyard and she remembers playing with it as a young girl. When that house was sold out of the family, the bell was moved to a house in Greenwood where Drew's dad, Jim Barbour, and Drew's uncle, Tom Barbour, grew up. When Drew was going to graduate from Crozet Elementary, another of Drew's grandmas, Paula White, decided it should go back to the school. The 2008 fifth grade class is presenting the bell and its installation to the school as their end of year gift to the school.

It is the bell that was at the old Crozet Elementary and maybe even at the High School in the early days, and now it will be restored to a place of honor at the new building.

THANKS TO THE CROZET ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CLASS OF 2008!