Charles B. Aycock:

After enduring the Civil War and Reconstruction, North Carolina at the turn of the century did not have an adequate educational system. Compared to today’s opportunities afforded its citizens, North Carolina’s capabilities to provide learning at that time was indeed bleak.

Only thirty urban districts had a local tax to support its schools because most towns were opposed to such a tax. In over 900 school districts, there were no school houses. Those that did exist were often crude and lacked educational equipment. A majority of schools did not have professionally trained teachers. The school term was seventy-three days a year, and only a third of children eligible to attend actually did so.

Thanks to the endeavors of Governor Charles Brantley Aycock, thousands of children were able to achieve an education they would not have had otherwise. His ideals about universal education (in which everyone, regardless of economics, race or gender, is entitled to an education) carried the state into a new age of development.

Aycock was born near Nahunta, North Carolina, in 1859 and was the youngest of ten children (Nahunta was eventually renamed Fremont and another community approximately 10 miles away took the name Nahunta). Aycock’s parents, Benjamin and Serena Hooks Aycock, welcomed their son into a family rich in rural tradition and integrity.

Young Charles was six years old when the Civil War ended. He grew up listening to conversations between his father and associates about the mechanics of government. Although Benjamin Aycock possessed no particular love for politics, he felt it was the duty of every citizen to participate in ensuring that government was sustained properly.

Benjamin Aycock was the Wayne County Clerk of Superior Court for eight years and represented Wayne County in the State Senate in 1864 and 1865. He lived a model life dedicated to Christianity, dying while opening a conference at a church.

Serena Aycock did not have a formal education, but she was a smart and capable woman. Because her husband was often away due to his public service, she ran the farm and attended to her children’s intellectual pursuits. Determined that they do well in their schooling, she had them study each night. The seeds of Aycock’s desire to provide educational opportunities for all children in North Carolina probably began during these years. He admired his uneducated mother’s strength and determination and would credit his success in life to her influence.

Aycock attended school in Nahunta, Wilson and Kinston in 1876. In 1877, he began school at the University of North Carolina. His interest in education, while evident as a young boy, was given fruit while at the university. Graduating in 1880, Charles was awarded the Bingham Essayist Medal and the Willie P. Mangum Medal for the his outstanding graduation oration.

The following year, Aycock began law practice in Goldsboro. In July, he was elected Superintendent of Public Instruction for Wayne County. He also served a total of seventeen years on the Board of Trustees of the Goldsboro Public Schools. From 1893 to 1897, he was the United States District Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina.

He traveled throughout North Carolina during these years, campaigning on behalf of education.

Always a devoted Democrat, in April 1900 he was nominated on the Democratic ticket for Governor of North Carolina. One of his campaign promises was improving public education. He was elected in August and upon his inauguration in January 1901, he immediately began fulfilling his campaign promise toward the betterment of public schooling.

During his governorship, about 1100 schools were built in North Carolina - one school built for each day he spent in office, as historians point out. Vast improvements were seen in enrollments. School districts were better organized and improved training for teachers was implemented.

These accomplishments in North Carolina gained national recognition. The state of Maine requested that Aycock inspect its schools for possible improvements.

Aycock’s dedication to educational opportunities kept him interested in modernizing education. He persuaded the Board of Trustees of the Goldsboro Public Schools to grant the first pension ever for a public school teacher in North Carolina. He also opposed the separate education for the children of the “factory districts,” who were educated in “factory schools.” Factory workers were customarily segregated from the rest of the community. Aycock did not approve of their separate education because it went against the principles of democracy and created a sort of caste system.

In 1905, he resumed his law practice in Goldsboro and also received an L.L.D. degree from the University of Maine. While practicing law, he still traveled extensively to promote education and later became a supporter of prohibition.

In 1911, he announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate.

However, his career as a public servant and proponent for education was cut short when he died April 4, 1912, while addressing the Alabama Educational Association on universal education. As his father before him, he was doing what he loved and believed in when he passed away - dying abruptly in the middle of a speech. The last word he spoke was “education.”

Nearly five decades after his death, the Charles B. Aycock Birthplace became a North Carolina Historical Site. Located two miles south of Fremont, there are several features around the site for visitors to learn more about Aycock and his contribution to education in North Carolina.

The Aycock home is intact, complete with a loom, the masonry fire place and original flooring in most of the home. It is furnished with period pieces and has a separate reconstructed open hearth kitchen. The house was located across the road from where it now sits, having been moved twice. The Aycocks had moved into the home in the 1840s. Benjamin Aycock accumulated a thousand acres during his lifetime, and there are approximately 18 acres belonging to the historical site.

In back of the home is a storehouse and outhouse. The kitchen garden is also located in the rear.

A one room school house, circa 1893, was appropriately moved onto the site as a complement to Aycock’s enduring legacy as North Carolina’s “educational governor.” The school was the Nahunta schoolhouse and is filled with typical school furnishings of the day.

The Aycock family cemetery is located a few yards behind the school. Governor Aycock, however, is buried in Raleigh in the historical Oakwood Cemetery, probably at his immediate family’s choosing because Raleigh had been his home for so many years.

Housed on the property are several sheep. On the day I visited, one of the rams banged into the wooden gate to the barn as if declaring that we “intruders” were getting too close. Old farm tools and equipment are stored in another barn close to the sheep shed.

The visitor center and museum has on display some of Aycock’s personal belongings such as his walking cane, morning jacket and the Aycock family bible. One exhibit is set up like his parlor at his home in Raleigh, while another represents his law office.

Aycock’s life is chronicled in an audiovisual program at the museum. The tour through the historical site is interesting and gives visitors a feel of what it was like living in the rural south at the turn of the century.

Throughout the year, there are special events through the site’s living history programs. For more information on the Charles B. Aycock Birthplace and Historic Site’s operating hours and tour times, call 919-242-5581.