Josephine School Community Museum

Home
United States
Berryville, VA
Josephine School Community Museum

The Josephine School Community Museum & Clarke County African American Cultural Center is housed in a circa 1882 two-room schoolhouse in Berryville, Va.

Its mission is to preserve and share Clarke County’s Black history.

05/29/2026

Many thanks to those who helped date this photo of the Josephine City School. It was taken in or shortly after 1930 – after it was moved a few hundred feet south of where it was built (and where it currently sits).

The two-room elementary school was built in 1882 close to the Josephine City’s only road. It was moved when the four-room Clarke County Training School was built in 1930.

After it was moved, it was used for home economics and agriculture classrooms, and the Clarke County Training School taught grades 1 through 12.

05/26/2026

This photo in the Clarke County Historical Association archives is identified as a group of Clarke County Training School pageant participants. Handwriting on it says, “1926-27 pageant – my bunch.” The Clarke County Training School wasn’t built until 1930, so maybe the pageant was a fundraising event for the proposed school. Can anyone provide more details or identify anyone in this photo?

05/21/2026

The Josephine School Community Museum Board meets at 4 p.m. Tuesday, May 26, at the museum located at 303 Josephine St. in Berryville. Meetings are open to the public. New board members are needed, too. If you want to learn more about preserving Clarke County’s Black history, please consider attending a board meeting.

Board meetings are generally on the fourth Monday of each month, occasionally changing because of holidays – such as Memorial Day – or inclement weather. Contact the museum at (540) 955-5512 or [email protected].

05/18/2026

Educating, engaging, and supporting students are primary goals of the Josephine School Community Museum, which occupies a two-room schoolhouse built in 1882 to serve Black students in Clarke County. On May 17, 2026, the museum hosted its 22nd annual Scholarship Program.

Scholarship recipients – Clarke County High School seniors who will attend college in the fall – and their families filled the museum for a brief presentation. Congratulations to these hard-working and talented students:
• Olivia Burkley (Hood College)
• Saniyah Marie Caldwell (Radford University)
• Aiden Genda (Virginia Commonwealth University)
• Brianna Mayo (Baylor University)
• Robyn Preston (Virginia State University)

Josephine School Community Museum scholarships are made possible by generous financial support from community members who believe in the power and importance of higher education. If enough donations are received, additional scholarships will be given to the students listed above beyond their first year at college. Read more at www.jschoolmuseum.org/support

05/15/2026

This “Celebrating Emancipation” marker is part of the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National Historic District’s “Long Road to Freedom” project. It will soon be installed in front of the Shenandoah Valley Civil War Museum located at 20 N. Loudoun St. – the walking mall – in downtown Wi******er.

Marker text begins, “In the decades following the end of the Civil War, African Americans across the United States celebrated the conflict’s most significant legacy” the destruction of slavery. The first emancipation celebration in the Shenandoah Valley occurred in Wi******er on January 1, 1868 – the fifth anniversary of of President Abraham Lincoln’s signing of the final Emancipation Proclamation…”

05/11/2026

Thanks to our followers, the woman in this photo has been properly identified as Esther Lewis Harris (who had a twin, Bessie Lewis Powell). The man is Ralph Jones. Esther and Ralph were photographed at the Johnson-Williams High School gathering in November 2000, when they were the oldest alumni still living. Esther was born March 24, 1912, and died Dec. 22, 2002. Ralph was born May 9, 1910, and died Feb. 25, 2002. Both were residents of Berryville.

Johnson-Williams High School was originally the Clarke County Training School when it opened in 1930. The four-room school was expanded in 1944 and renamed W.T.B. Williams School (honoring William Taylor Burwell Williams). In 1949, the name was changed to Johnson-Williams Training School (to honor the Rev. Edward Thomas Johnson). Additions were made to the building and, in 1951, it became Johnson-Williams High School.

When county schools were desegregated in 1966, J-WHS became Clarke County Intermediate School for Black and white seventh- and eighth-grade students.

The next Johnson-Williams High School Reunion is on Saturday, July 18, at Millwood Station Banquet Hall (252 Costello Dr., Wi******er). It will celebrate the Class of 1966 – the last class to graduate from J-WHS. Find details at https://myevent.com/cctsjwhs

05/06/2026

As the United States marks the 250th anniversary of its “Declaration of Independence,” two historic Clarke County properties host three events that will add deeper meaning to the story of freedom and self-actualization. The series – “The Ties That Bind: Women Who Bridged Two Worlds” – begins Saturday, May 16.

“Guiding Hands, Shared Histories: Women Who Shaped Our Communities” starts at 1:30 p.m. May 16, at Clermont Farm, where the focus is on the women who owned it. Ellen Jett McCormick owned the farm after the Civil War and her husband’s death. She was concerned with land management and stewardship. More than 100 years later, her great-granddaughter Elizabeth Rust Williams advocated for the preservation of the 362-acre farm, ensuring Clermont’s permanent protection through one of Virginia’s largest heritage gifts.

Visitors then drive to the Josephine School Community Museum, where the focus is on Rosetta Clay, who was a lifelong resident of Josephine City. Her legacy includes the creation of the Black history museum she championed. In the 1990s, Ms. Clay was part of the small grassroots movement determined to turn the circa 1882 Josephine City School into a Black history museum. She worked tirelessly raising funds, asking for memorabilia, and working with local government to make the museum a reality.

Tickets are $10 per adult. Students 18 and younger and seniors 65 and older are admitted free of charge. Receive a $5 discount by purchasing a series ticket for $25 for all three events (May 16, July 18, and Aug. 29).

Tickets can be purchased at Clermont Farm on the day of the event and in advance at www.clermontfarm.org/events

The farm is located at 151 Clermont Lane, Its entrance is on Berryville’s East Main Street. The museum is located at 303 Josephine St. in Berryville.

Contact Clermont at (540) 955-0102 or [email protected]. Contact the museum at (540) 955-5512 or [email protected].

Read more about the VA250 initiative at www.va250.org/clarke-county/

05/04/2026

When Josephine City was annexed into the Town of Berryville in 1989, the street was only part of the total land added to Berryville corporate limits. Annexation Area A – outlined in red on this map – includes Doubleday (today Berryville Graphics), Rosemont, housing developments east and north of Town as well as Josephine Street.

Berryville began the process of annexing Josephine City and other parcels of land into the Town in 1988; annexation was official in 1989.

Areas for future growth were identified in the county’s “Master Plan” adopted in June 1974; today the document is known as the “Comprehensive Plan.” The plan includes the 1988 “Town-County Annexation Agreement” that created two separate annexation areas: A and B.

In 1992, the “Berryville Area Plan” was first adopted by Clarke County and the Town of Berryville to serve as a joint land use plan for the Berryville Annexation Area – undeveloped county lands adjacent to Town limits that are designated for addition to the Town in accordance with the 1988 “Town-County Annexation Agreement.”

Find the current “Berryville Area Plan” at https://www.clarkecounty.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/1892/637171964297530000

04/29/2026

The Dec. 25, 1986, edition of the Clarke Courier newspaper featured a special section about Josephine City history. Editor Val Van Meter interviewed a number of long-time residents, including then 75-year old Viola Lampkin. Here are some memories she shared:

• In 1935, Viola was single, working as a domestic for the family at “The Knoll” on South Church Street, and she was planning to marry the next year.
• Black businessman Jake Jackson bought the Harry Hardesty’s Livery building in 1935 when the Town planned to demolish the wooden structure to make way for a new brick fire house.
• Mr. Jackson rolled the livery building from Main Street to 113 Josephine St. The building was widened by six feet and remodeled inside.
• Viola and and her husband John Lampkin rented the house for a year before buying it from Mr. Jackson.
• Viola and John added onto their home and raised their family there.
• Viola said Jack Jackson was “quite a gentleman” who was instrumental in getting a number of Black families into their own homes.
• Viola recalled the time a lightening bolt flashed through an upstairs window of her home and out through a door on the opposite side of the room. “It hit the tree in the lot next door and killed a pig under it,” she said.
• During World War II, women who lived in Josephine City traveled to the VA hospital in Martinsburg, W.Va., to write letters and do other things for the patients.
• At the same time, the Clarke County Civic League was organized to help register more Blacks to vote.
• Viola also remembered the Elks and Knights of Pithias, two Black organizations that met at Fisherman’s Hall that stood at the corner of Buckmarsh and Blackburn streets. (Like Josephine City, Blackburn Town was another Black community established after the Civil War.)

In 1988, Berryville began the process of annexing Josephine City and other parcels of land into the town. Annexation was official in 1989.

Mary “Viola” Roberts Lampkin Brown was born on Oct. 4, 1911, in Hume, Va. She died May 21, 2022, in the Josephine Street home where she had lived since 1936. She was 110-years, 229-days old. Viola was 7-years old when she began her life as a domestic service worker alongside her parents at Springfield Farm in Clarke County.

Address

303 Josephine Street
Berryville, VA
22611

Opening Hours

1pm - 3pm

Website

http://jschoolmuseum.org/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Josephine School Community Museum posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Museum

Send a message to Josephine School Community Museum:

Shortcuts

Want your museum to be the top-listed Museum in Berryville?