After the Civil War, Virginia's constitution of 1869 established a statewide system of free public schools, and several new schools in Fauquier were identified by assigned numbers. Number 18 was built on land donated by Samuel F. Shackleford. From its construction in 1887 until 1910, this one-room schoolhouse served local white children. After they moved to a newer school in the nearby village of Marshall in 1910, Number 18 served African American students until it closed in 1964. It survives as a rare example of a once-common schoolhouse type.