The Name They Buried: The Desk, The Note, and a Town's Silence

The Name They Buried: The Desk, The Note, and a Town's Silence

In this episode, we tell how a dog groomer found a school desk on Pender Hill in 2014 and how that desk, a bottle, and a four-word note connect back to events in July 1894; we follow the archival records and testimonies that reconstruct Teresa Stewart's last days and the town's response. How did a teacher who taught for thirteen years and whose family donated the school land come to die alone on the slope while her community refused to speak her name?

Person: Teresa Stewart
Date: July 14, 1894
Location: Pender Hill, Creston Ford, Pender County
Event: School committee removal of belongings July 13, 1894
Document count: 43 county documents naming Teresa Stewart (1912-1941)

- A dog groomer named Connie Bates found a school desk on the eastern slope of Pender Hill on the morning of July 9, 2014.
- Inside the desk was a glass medicine bottle corked fresh and a folded note reading "Teresa Stewart. July 14th, 1894."
- Teresa Stewart's cabinet card portrait was taken in July 1894 and she was unmarried and in her mid-fifties at that time.
- Twenty-two parents signed a petition dated July 11, 1894, requesting Teresa's reinstatement after the school committee moved to dismiss her.
- On July 13, 1894, three school committee members and two other men removed Teresa's belongings, locked the schoolhouse door, and left while Teresa remained on the slope in eighty-nine degree heat.

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