Sheldon Union Academy, later Sheldon School, opened on this site in 1893 and educated the black children of the rural Sheldon community for almost fifty years. Founded by an independent group of community leaders, it was governed as a private school from 1893 to 1918 by a board that included S.T. Beaubien, M.W. Brown, P.R. Chisolm, H.L. Jones, S.W. Ladson, F.S. Mitchell, and N.D. Mitchell. In 1918 the board deeded the property to Beaufort County, which built a new public school on the site. Sheldon School taught grades 1 through 7 and closed in 1942 when the county consolidated its rural black schools.