Boydton Academic and Bible Institute opened in 1879 in a building abandoned by Randolph-Macon College after its move to Ashland in 1868. Dr. Charles Cullis, a Boston humanitarian, bought the property in 1878 and opened the school partly to train African-American preachers and teachers. He sent Mr. and Mrs. Sharpe to run it, but after Mr. Sharpe died soon following their arrival, Mrs. Helen Bradford Sharpe assumed leadership and guided the institute for more than 30 years. The school included a large four-story brick building, a two-story house, and 425 acres of land. It later added a boarding department and secondary-level courses. In 1910 the Christian Alliance of New York City purchased the school and operated it until 1916, when lack of support forced it to close. Soon afterward, an alumni board of trustees took over the property and reopened the school with tuition and private contributions. The reorganized school added four years of high school work, and its first high school class graduated in 1927. High school subjects were dropped after 1922, and the school continued as an elementary school until its permanent closure in 1935. Through the efforts of Dr. Cullis, Mrs. Sharpe, and others, the institute produced many of Mecklenburg County’s notable teachers and ministers.