The Woodbine Opry: Where School Is Always In Session
How often can you have your cake and eat it too? At the Woodbine Opry, you can.
This popular live music event held every Friday and Saturday evening raffles off home-made goodies such as delicious pound cakes, pineapple upside-down cakes, and strawberry cupcakes to maintain the Old School, now the Camden Community Center, which houses the Opry. Below learn why this century-old building merits the tireless efforts of volunteers – including the school’s alumni and the Opry’s talented musicians – to preserve it.
At its construction in 1926 the Woodbine School, with its high beadboard ceilings and heart pine floors, was a modern structure which symbolized the city’s prosperity as a stop along newly-constructed Highway 17. It began as a grammar school and then became North Camden High School, one of three in the county. It then transitioned to the first consolidated countywide high school – Camden County High School – for twenty years. By 1971, the county’s growing population forced the school into a larger facility in St. Marys, the same building which now houses St. Marys Middle School. The Old School in Woodbine then returned to being an elementary school until it was abandoned in 1991.
Although this historic school building is in Woodbine’s Historic District, it was left off the National Register of Historic Places due to renovations years ago. This meant that nothing could stop the bulldozers, which arrived not long after its closing, from leveling the old gym and ball field. However, when former school secretary Libby Bass witnessed this destruction, she alerted Katie Cooler and Bettie Cottle, both of whom had taught at the school, and the three inserted themselves between the bulldozer the building’s back brick wall.
Their efforts gave rise in 1998 to the Old School Renovation Committee, whose members collected signatures for petitions and called elected officials, halting the county’s planned demolition. They asked the county commission if they could restore the school, and state representative Charlie Smith got a grant from the government’s discretionary fund to aid in this effort.
Fundraising to restore the school began with the selling of memory bricks to surround the building’s flag pole. However, the most popular fundraiser has been the Woodbine Opry which Old School alumnus Hoydt Drury initiated in 2002, offering bluegrass and gospel music on Friday evenings. Its popularity led to classic country music’s being added on Saturday nights two years later. These events are funded purely by donations, and the musicians, some of whom graduated from high school on the stage where they now perform, play on a volunteer basis. While the Opry started small, now attendees come from Fernandina, Jacksonville, Brunswick, Darien, and beyond – some from as far away as Canada.
These fundraising efforts led to the Old School’s 2009 remodeling, including new restrooms, upgraded heating and air conditioning, new lighting and sound systems, painting and floor refinishing, and classroom renovation. Thirty-seven of the school’s original auditorium seats were refinished, but wider cushioned seats donated from the old Camden County Courthouse make up the rest. The Renovation Committee continues to make improvements and repairs to the school as needed.
How can you help maintain this historic building? You may organize gatherings or meetings at the cafeteria or a classroom for a small fee; purchase a “Woodbine Opry” Cookbook, which boasts recipes from school alumni and friends of the Opry; or visit the gift shop, snack room, thrift room, and museum – a room restored to resemble an Old School classroom – open during the Opry Friday and Saturday evenings. Enjoy a home-cooked meal at the cafeteria at 6:00 p.m. (of course your $12 contribution goes back to the school) before the Opry begins at 7:00, and don’t forget to participate in the fifty-fifty and cake raffles during each show’s intermission at 9:00 p.m.
The Opry has been billed as “the most fun you can have with your overalls on.” Whether you wear overalls or not, the Opry is a wholesome, toe-tapping time for those of all ages and backgrounds. Plus, the tasty prizes you may take home are almost as sweet as your satisfaction in supporting a good cause!
Find more information about the Opry on Facebook, follow these links:
