Overview
Boiling Spring Academy, originally opened as a private school in 1833, has undergone an extensive restoration. Tuition was originally $8 per semester (about 5 months). The school has two rooms, one upstairs and one on the main floor. Six schools in Brentwood participate in the Boiling Spring Academy Classroom Project. Third grade students come to Boiling Springs Academy dressed in period clothes loaned to them by the Historic Commission. They spend the day much like the children of the 1800’s, being taught by schoolmarms and using slates and slate pens during their lessons.
Open houses are held for the public each third Sunday of the month from 2pm-4pm beginning in April through October. You are welcome to bike up to the school house using the greenway from Crockett or Smith Parks. Parking is ONLY available on open house dates, so please do not park on Moores Lane when the gates are locked.
For the first time ever, you can go inside the Boiling Spring Academy with virtual access in the all-new —The Boiling Spring Academy 360° Tour. This virtual experience allows you to independently roam each level of the school. As you navigate outside you will see the restroom--the outhouse and view the Fewkes Archaeological Site Mound 1, known as The Temple Mound.
Please click on the play button below and wait for the information to load. Click on each circle to read or listen to stories about items inside the school house. Remember to use headphones if you are in a public place so you do not disturb others.
The Boiling Spring Academy, located on Moores Lane near Wilson Pike, is a one room schoolhouse built in 1830. It is maintained by the Brentwood Historic Commission and the City of Brentwood.
The park, school and Native American Prehistoric Mound Site, 900-1500 (A.D.), known as the Fewkes Site, were listed on the National Register of Historic Properties as site#80003880 in 1980.
TheBrentwood Historic Commission restored the academy once the City acquired the property in 2003 and in 2005 developed the now highly successful third-grade history program centered around what it was like to go to school for a day back in 1845. No electricity, no running water, no cellphones or technology.
About 900 students go through the program each year. Due to COVID-19 in 2020 and schools transitioning to virtual learning and canceling field trips, the in-person program was suspended. In 2021, members of the Historic Commission partnered with Williamson County Schools to create a virtual field trip experience.
Want to continue learning about Boiling Spring? You can use these videos as a virtual field trip designed for third-grade students, but everyone is welcome to listen and learn. There are also study guides available for download.
You can view all four teaching lessons here which include:
- Lesson One- A walk through history of prehistoric Native Americans, Tennessee and Boiling Springs Academy
- Lesson Two- School introduction and Cardinal directions
- Lesson Three- Penmanship
- Lesson Four- Reading
- Lesson Five- Arithmetic
Below are pdf study guides to assist with the virtual learning videos.
Guides to Virtual Lessons
Have fun with activity coloring book and learn a few interesting facts about Primm Park, Boiling Springs Academy and the Native Americans.