Berea College

I have been interested in Berea College since the 70's when I read Eliot Wigginton's books called Foxfire--books taken from a magazine which Wigginton and his students had begun to preserve the Applachian way of life. Berea College figured prominently in those books.

Berea College is in Berea, Kentucky. It is a liberal arts school with a billion dollar endowment--yes, that is billion with a "b". None of the students who attend pay for their schooling--they simply work in some capacity for the school at least 10 hours a week. The school is dedicated to providing an educational opportunity primarily for students from Appalachia "black and white, who have great promise and limited economic resources." Equal education to both men and women Fall enrollment this year was 1,523 students. It is an undergraduate school with a large training program in the arts (both aesthetic and technical). There are several shops on campus where students learn woodworking, weaving, painting, etc. The school publishes a catalog selling wooden items, etc. which are handmade by the students. Deeply embedded in the school is the Christian ethic, even though they have no Bible department.

We stayed at Boone's Tavern in which all the furniture in the hotel was made by the students. It is a lovely facility and a tavern in the sense that it provides a place for people to eat and sleep. The county is dry.

So interesting to see a university put a Christian commitment on the line through service and an interest in equality.

Begun by fervant abolitionists and radical reformers, the school is quite proud of its history and of the service it is rendering to the Appalachian region.