Schools in Jackson County during that era were privately funded and usually associated with a plantation. For example, a plantation owner would sometimes hire a teacher at his expense and set up a school room on the grounds where his children (and sometimes those of the neighbors) were educated. There was an academy in Marianna prior to the War Between the States. It was located on approximately the site of today's Jackson County Board of Education offices and was used as a Confederate hospital during the war. The largest academy in the area was the Orange Hill Academy, a Baptist-sponsored institution at Orange Hill in Washington County. Many residents of both Jackson and Washington Counties sent their children there. Best, Dale Cox