Text and photos by Stephanie Caplan
A lone poplar tree stands tall and strong behind O.A. Peay School in Swan Quarter.
And now, 33 years after its planting, the historic Davie Poplar tree has a naming marker tying it to North Carolina’s original statewide commitment to public education.
Alumni of the all-Black school and area historians gathered for a dedication ceremony and unveiling of the tree plaque on May 23.
Minister Andy Holloway remembers “Davie Poplar Tree Day” in 1993. Then a first grader, Holloway joined fellow O. A. Peay School students to plant the sapling during a school-wide assembly. He showed the 1993 school yearbook during the ceremony, pointing out a two-page spread of black-and-white photos of the planting.
“We didn’t realize at the time how significant the tree was,” Holloway said. “But as I got older, I understood the importance of the tree, the importance of history. You can do something that long ago and it still has an impact 30 years later. This building and these grounds for generations have been important to a lot of people, a lot of families … Think of how many trees have fallen from hurricanes, but this one is still here.”
The tree came to Swan Quarter when student Erica Britt Green won a sixth-grade essay contest sponsored by UNC-Chapel Hill. One winner was selected from each of North Carolina’s 100 counties.
The winners traveled to the Chapel Hill campus to receive a sapling from the original Davie Poplar and a handshake from Hall of Fame men’s basketball coach Dean Smith. According to the program provided at the May ceremony, President Bill Clinton gave the keynote address about the power of community and the role of public universities. And well-known journalist Charles Kuralt from Wilmington, a UNC-Chapel Hill graduate, spoke of the university’s enduring connection to the people of North Carolina.
Legend has it that Revolutionary War General Willam Richardson Davie was part of a group tasked with finding just the right spot to lay the cornerstone for the nation’s first public university. In 1793, they stopped to rest under the shade of a massive poplar tree and that area was chosen to found UNC-Chapel Hill. To this day, that Davie Poplar tree still stands.
And cuttings from that original tree have been planted all over the state, including in Swan Quarter.
As a result of the 1993 essay contest to help mark the 200-year anniversary of the university, pieces of that original tree fanned out to all 100 counties under the stewardship of public school sixth graders.
Archie Green, president of the O.A. Peay Hyde County Alumni Association, said he was unaware of the tree’s significance until a recent conversation with local historians.
That conversation was all it took for Green to spearhead the effort to purchase and place the tree plaque. Green led the May 23 ceremony held during the annual O.A. Peay homecoming weekend.
“We can treasure this tree, something we haven’t recognized before,” Green said. He told the audience that he remembered Principal O. A. Peay as a very kind man who did so much for students, many, he said, who did not have much.
“The teachers were the best,” Green said. “They were caring. They visited your homes. If you did something wrong, you got a whooping at school, and then you got another whooping when you got home!”
That sense of community and looking out for one another was echoed by several alumni in attendance for the tree ceremony.
In addition to Green and Holloway, speakers at the event included Linda Mayo and Clare Baum, representing the Hyde County Historical & Genealogical Society, and long-time Hyde County resident Margie Brooks.
After formal remarks, all in attendance walked to base of the tree to pay homage to their school and the tree’s representation of an important chapter in our nation’s story of public education.
The O.A. Peay School originally opened in 1953 as the Hyde County Training School, serving as a profound source of pride for Black residents. Today, the former school campus (located at 1430 Main Street) functions as the administrative headquarters for Hyde County Schools.
