GSD alumni prepping for 175th anniversary

Cave Spring’s deaf community is preparing to celebrate a landmark anniversary of the Georgia School for the Deaf with historic markers over at Fannin Hall.

In September, GSD will be celebrating over 170 years of operation. It is Georgia’s only residential school that serves deaf and hard of hearing students. While it was originally established on the grounds of the Hearn Academy and began in a log cabin on the property, it quickly began to grow thanks to a $5,000 legislative grant.

That grant helped fund the building of Fannin Hall, which is still standing today. It served GSD for many years until GSD eventually outgrew the building and moved to a bigger campus on Perry Farm Road.

Today, Fannin Hall, which is named after one of the original GSD teachers, serves as the Cave Spring city government building.

Now, Adonia Smith of the GSD Alumni Association is advocating for historic markers to be placed around Fannin Hall to honor the school’s history.

During a presentation to the Cave Spring City Council during its May meeting, Smith went over several markers she’s proposing to erect around Cave Spring and Cedartown.

“These landmarks have cultural and historical value that help connect people to their past,” Smith said through an interpreter at the meeting. “We cannot afford to lose any marked and unmarked landmarks. We must preserve them to remember our community and the history of GSD.”

The first one is a historical marker provided by the Georgia Historical Society to mark the original site of the one-room log cabin behind the Hearn Academy where some of the very first classes took place.

Smith is also proposing a large headstone be constructed at the Asa Prior Cemetery in Cedartown to honor five deaf children from the Prior family who helped push for GSD and made many significant contributions.

“We’ve already purchased a very nice headstone that will be there at Asa Prior (Cemetery) in Cedartown in their honor,” Smith said.

She is also campaigning to restore the name of the GSD library to the Ellen G. Fisher Library. Fisher was the first deaf librarian at the school.

Over at Fannin Hall, Smith is advocating for memorial bricks to be placed outside to honor significant figures related to GSD, such as prominent students and faculty.

Cave Spring City Council members agreed with Smith’s proposal and said they’ll look into getting memorial bricks placed around the building in significant places, such as outside the old girls’ dormitory and outside the entrance to the building.

While there will be many small events celebrating the school’s anniversary this year, the main celebration will take place from Sept. 2 through Sept. 4.