Little Larry Morris ran down the lane to catch the bus to Bell Fountain school one cold January morning in 1957. When the bus dropped him and a few others at the quaint wooden building, he ran to punch his friend Dennis Petersen.

"You're it!"

Then he took off running across the frozen ground.

When the teacher rang the bell, they hurried inside the warm two-room school to their classroom for grades 1-4. Grades 5-8 went into the other room, which was separated from theirs with a partition. They could smell lunch being cooked by Jenny Daw in a small room in the back. She was so proud of her new electric stove purchased by the parents that she started lunch extra early.

Suddenly, the teacher told the children to grab their coats and books and leave immediately. She smelled smoke. After alerting the other teacher and Jenny, she joined the children outside to watch their precious school burn to the ground.

That was the end of Chapter Two of the story of Bell Fountain School.

Chapter One begins in the thriving community of Gateswood, founded in 1866 near the intersection of Highways 64 and the Pensacola Road, later named Highway 112. The road connected Bay Minette with Pensacola and ran alongside the railroad line used by the Southern Land and Lumber Company started by "Cap" Gates. Quite a large town was in full strength by 1880 with homes, stores, hotels, churches and, naturally, a one-room schoolhouse.

Chapter Two opens in the 1920s. With the purchase of the first school buses, the school system began consolidating many small schools. Gateswood was to be combined with New Hope, Ten Mile and Allenville in a new school on the Pensacola Road south of Gateswood.

Back then, the trustees had a major role in the management of schools, so they were deciding the name for the new school. Trustee E.M. Waters wanted to name the school Gateswood but was met with complaints that the school was not actually in the town of Gateswood. After riding off to meet with other trustees, he returned to announce the new school would be named Bell Fountain. It seems a famous actress named Bell Fountain had once stayed in the Stagecoach Inn across the road from the new school site. Evidently, the actress left a lasting impression on the star-struck community

After the children from the Crystal Springs school were added, enrollment reached over 100, and three teachers managed classes in the two rooms. The house built next door was a "teacherage," used as a residence for the lead teacher and principal. At the time of the fire, Alto Hargett was living there. During these years, the lumber industry died off, and the land was sold to ranchers and farmers. Many of these families still live there today.

The school was the place where local meetings were held and was the center of community spirit.
It was perfect until the tragic fire in 1957 ended this part of the story. Thankfully, no one was hurt, but Jenny Daw sure missed her new electric stove. Later, she still mourned its loss and said no other one has ever been as good. Old-timers said the school was heated by wood-burning furnaces fueled by wood provided by parents, and a faulty flue near the ceiling was the arsonist.

Chapter Three begins with children in grades 1-6 being taught in local churches while the new brick school was constructed; grades 7 and 8 were permanently transferred to Bay Minette School. The new school for grades 1-6 had two teachers, and the kitchen was moved to the teacherage nearby, where the children walked to eat their lunches. A brand new sign was painted by Charlie Barnett and Preston McNeil.

I learned a lot about the school during these years from Dianne Layton, who was lead teacher for three years starting in 1970. She taught 11 students in grades 4-6, and Christine Waters taught grades K-3. She laughed as she recalled her duties at the tiny school. She had to plan the menus, shop for the groceries, go cover pipes in freezing weather and take the trash out back where she burned it. She had a red phone with a direct line to Superintendent J. Larry Newton, who stopped by several times each year.

I was at the school board meeting when the decision to close the school was made. It had been on the chopping block many times before, but each time it was postponed due to community support of the school. At the end of the 2002-2003 school year, the doors were locked and the school was no more. At the time, it was the only one-room school in Alabama; Conchita Dubose taught five students in grades K-3. The students were officially transferred to Bay Minette Elementary, and the buildings were leased to Hamilton Baptist Church. It was also used as a polling site until the new fire station was built next door.

Dennis and Larry, those former students who recalled running to school, proudly showed me an article about a reunion planned by the alumni of the school. In Larry's kitchen overlooking a beautiful lake in Bay Minette, they recalled some of the memories shared at that reunion. If only those walls could talk, there would be a volume of stories to tell. Jenny Daw seemed to be the most consistent character in the school history, but they also named teachers and bus drivers and remembered the basketball trophies lost in the fire. The once busy railroad had sidings at lumber mills all along the tracks. One was at Smut Eye, just east of the school and the sound of trains was the background soundtrack for every story. Dennis said his 93-year-old father is probably the oldest living person who attended Bell Fountain School

The bare bones of rail beds and building foundations are still lying all around, but the area is once again growing as new subdivisions are popping up all along Highway 112. Sandra Rackard is working with the Baldwin Count Historical Commission to have a marker erected where the town once stood. Hamilton Baptist, New Hope Methodist, the old Bell Fountain Hunting Club and a new fire station welcome new generation to the area, and the well-maintained cemeteries tell the story of the older generations.

The names on these tombstones are now carved in stone to remind us of the way things were Way Back When.