1900 St. Paul's School & 1905 Watson Hall Teacherage

1898 Sanborn Map

The first St. Paul's School opened in 1858. With about 30 pupils, the school was led by Rev. Van Antwerp, with teachers Caroline Van Antwerp, Elizabeth Roberson and Sarah Pasteur, the school closed in 1867. In 1899, the school reopened under the guidance from Rev. Thomas P. Noe, with help from Sarah Pasteur's daughter Nannie P. Geffroy. The school operated in a small building, first mapped by Sanborn in 1898. After the new school was built in 1900, facing Ann Street, the old building became the "Manual Training School."

In 1885, bookkeeper Malachi Roberson Geffroy (1861-1938) married Nannie Pasteur Davis (1865-1936), daughter of Sarah Pasteur and James Chadwick Davis. Born Mary Ann Davis, she changed her name to Nannie Pasteur Davis sometime before her marriage to Malachi. From 1899 until her death in 1936, 201 Ann Street was second home to Nannie Geffroy, first as secretary-treasurer, then headmistress of St. Paul's School. The school operated until Mrs. Geffroy's death in 1936. 

In 1900 a new school (above) was erected on the lot east of the church, followed in 1906 by Watson Hall dormitory (below) between the church and 201 Ann Street. (The small school building, was then used as a Manual Training School.) These two images were taken from the 1909-10 St. Paul's School Catalogue.

Watson Hall dormitory building was built in 1906. 

The structure was named for Alfred A. Watson, former bishop of the Diocese of East Carolina.

Mrs. Geffroy and Staff circa 1910

In the mid-1940s, part of Watson Hall Dormitory was saved from demolition, moved to 209 Orange Street and converted to a private residence, home to James Noe, a Midgett family and others. 

The unique, stacked corner front porches of the Orange Street "teacherage" once faced the back courtyard of St. Paul's School and overlooked what is now the newer part of the St. Paul's Episcopal Church Cemetery. The structure functioned partly as lodging for the teaching staff. 

The retained multiple front doors of the home once provided entry to small classrooms on what is now the right front of the house—one up, one down. Historical evidence is still visible on the upstairs level, marking where a separating wall once existed. Scorch marks on the classroom floors remain where the wood-burning stoves once served for warmth. The structure also functioned partly as lodging for teaching staff—hence the name Watson-Hall Teacherage.

In 1960 George Huntley III, a Beaufort High School senior, wrote an article in Echoes of the Past, titled “Nannie Geffroy Revived, Developed St. Paul’s School.” “The dormitory building rooms,” he noted, “were equipped with white enameled beds, chiffoniers, and wardrobes, while the sanitary washstands with running water added to the comfort. The building was equipped with adequate bathrooms with hot and cold water and lighted throughout with electricity.” Some local residents still recall their childhood association with St. Paul’s School with imagined or real memories of what once occurred inside the walls of this historic building. One recalled watching, as a kindergartner, her teacher step out the door of the classroom, onto the porch to talk to her “beau.” 

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Heritage of Carteret County Vol. 1 - Jan. 1982