Ramsey Park Walkway Of Honor To Make Black History Permanent

The Warren County Black History Museum is working to create a Walkway of Honor at Ramsey Park.

Museum Curator and Director Wayne R. Wolford Sr. said community members can honor Bernard School graduates, family members and loved ones with a personalized brick. Wolford said with the black community the smallest its ever been in McMinnville, the walkway will preserve the black community’s place in history.

“People that have lived here or their parents have lived here, so they can come back and have something to feed on,” Wolford said. “It’s almost like ancestory.com, you try to check a lot of places for you ancestors and so forth and just try to cover some of your history.”

Wolford said he hopes the Walkway of Honor will give the community direction moving forward, while remembering where it came from. Wolford said the Bernard School was a Rosenwald school, and one of over 3,000 around the south.

“The first school was built here in 1920 and it was named after the agent that helped it out and his name was Bernard,” Wolford said. “In and around 1946 the school had burned down and the high school went to one church and the elementary school went to another church. Then, after that year it was done the other school was completed and so that went on all the way until 1964 when integration started.”

The bricks are available in two sizes, 8′ x 8′ which are $100 and 4′ x 8 for $50. Wolford said people can put phrases, names or logos on their brick.

He said the easiest way to order a brick is to visit the Warren County Black History Museum’s Facebook page and click the link to its main website.