walton county schools and libraries

 Darlington School is located on Highway 181 in Darlington community. It once served as a public school built in the early 1900s and closed in the early 1980s. Today, the building is still standing and is used by the community for various reunions and gatherings. The Board of County Commissioners has accepted responsibility for maintaining the building and will work to restore the school as funding permits. 

  The Knox Hill Academy, a boarding school, was founded in 1848 by the Rev. John Newton (1814-1871), a Presbyterian minister whose motto was "You must learn and obey." The school was first located near a spring northeast of the Morrison Place on Knox Hill. The original sponsors of the school were the Campbells, McLeans, Gunns, Morrisons, Gillies, McCaskills, McPhersons, and McDonalds.

The new school replaced the log Henry School House. The first building was a split-log house built on top of a hill; the school was furnished with single desks and blackboards. Slates and chalk were used for writing. Between 84 and 100 regular pupils attended.

In January 1859, the academy was moved to a large, two-story frame building north of the original site. Classes for older students were held on the second floor, and the younger students had class on the first floor. The building also housed a laboratory for chemistry and physics.

The Knox Hill Academy was highly acclaimed, and it provided education to students from west Florida and southern Georgia and Alabama.

Rev. Newton closed the school in 1871 and moved to Mary Esther, where he opened another school. 

 Florida teachers and administrators numbering 700 met here in Chautauqua Hall for a "teachers institute" called the Florida Chautauqua. The meeting was called to order by J.A. Graham, City Superintendent of Schools, Key West, at 12:30 pm, on Thursday March 4, 1886.

The major purpose of the gathering was a short but intensive training period mainly in subject matter fields, for many teachers were mere "grammar school grads." Here was the beginning of the Florida Education Association. A separate black teachers' association was formed in 1890. On July 1, 1966 the black and white organizations merged. The name Florida Education Association was continued for this combined organization and, in 1975, the word "United" was added when FEA and Florida's American Federation of Teachers merged.

The Florida Education Association has become a symbol of the achievements of the past and an inspiration to those who will promote excellence for Florida's public schools, colleges, and universities in the future.
 

3 Circle Drive
DeFuniak Springs, FL 32435

The  Library is located in the historic district of DeFuniak Springs and has  the distinction of being the oldest continuously operated library in  the state of Florida.

The Walton-DeFuniak Library opened during the first decade of the  existence of the town of DeFuniak Springs. This community originated in  the early 1880's as a station on the new Pensacola and Atlantic  Railroad. The town was named for Frederick de Funiak, president of the  P. and A. Railroad, a subsidiary of the Louisville and Nashville  Railroad. Railroad officials promoted the development of the area's  recreational resources. In the mid-1880's, representatives of the widely  popular Chautauqua association, an adult education movement combining  education with religion and recreation, selected DeFuniak Springs was  the Florida assembly grounds site. In 1885, the first annual session of  the Florida Chautauqua Association was held here. Local women realized  that library resources were needed for the Florida Chautauqua. In 1886,  an "Aid Society" was formed which the next year became the "Ladies  Library Association." By the end of 1887, the DeFuniak Library building  was completed. The Institution became the Walton County Public Library  in 1966 and in 1975 was named the Walton-DeFuniak Library. At that time,  the library building was the oldest structure in Florida built as a library and still serving that purpose.