Oak Hill Museum: The Life And Legacy Of Martha Berry

Chances are you have heard of Berry College. It is the largest campus in the United States and one of the most beautiful ones in the world. It all started because a young woman named Martha Berry believed in education and wanted to share it with the world. On a visit to Oak Hill Museum, you can learn about the life and legacy of Martha Berry.

Every year the Smithsonian Magazine focuses on different museums, and one year it highlighted Women Making History. We took this opportunity to visit the Oak Hill Museum and tour the home of Martha Berry. When I was a kid, my mom and grandmother would take me, my brother, and my cousins to visit the museum. As a child, I didn’t realize how amazing Martha Berry was. She was truly remarkable. She had so much influence and accomplished so much during a challenging time for women. She overcame great odds. By touring the museum and her home Oak Hill, you learn how Martha Berry’s love of God, learning, and the poor mountain people came together to become one of the most outstanding schools ever.

The museum is where our tour began. It displays a timeline of the history of the Berry family and Martha Berry’s life and works.

It also displays personal letters, photos, and artwork. Martha’s sister sent her a lot of artwork from abroad that is also on display. In the museum, you can also watch a movie about the life of Martha Berry. The students of Berry College created it to honor the life of Martha Berry and her legacy.

Emily guided the next part of our tour. She is a student at Berry College. She was very knowledgeable about the home of Marth Berry and encouraged questions from the group. When the tour was complete, I asked her some personal questions. I discovered that she graduated with our son, who also attends Berry College.

You can see the house from the museum, but it would be quite a walk, so we were shuttled there in trollies. The group was small, giving our tour a personal feel.

The house of the Berry family was originally a Victorian-style farmhouse. The original structure burned in 1884. Capt. Thomas Berry, Martha Berry’s father, rebuilt it in the style of Greek Revival and named it Oak Hill. After her father passed away, Martha Berry acquired her sibling’s share of the estate and renovated the home’s interior.

All of the trim was hand-carved by students of Berry College.

The love of education was instilled in Martha Berry by her father, Capt. Thomas Berry. There are many books in the study, many of which belonged to her father. Books belonging to Martha Berry usually had her name written in them.

In the study, you will find a portrait of Captain Thomas Berry. The home is filled with portraits which give you an idea of their wealth at that time. One of the upgrades Martha Berry did was add electricity throughout the house.

Also in the study is a portrait of Frances Margaret Rhea Berry, Martha Berry’s mother. Mrs. Berry is holding a bible in most of her paintings. She instilled a solid biblical foundation in her children. This foundation is the root of the Berry Schools.

Martha Berry entertained very influential people of her time to obtain the support she needed for the Berry Schools. She designed her house to impress those guests. She had beautiful wallpaper designed and brought in from the best suppliers in the region. She also showcased the skills of her students at every opportunity. The dining room chairs her guests sat in as she entertained were even made by her students.

Another way of displaying her student’s talent was by letting them entertain her guest. During her fundraising parties, she would enlist her talented students to play instruments or sing, showcasing her belief that the arts were an essential part of education.

So in a world long before instant information, how did Martha Berry seek out influential people that could help her dream of a school become a reality? She regularly searched Fortune Magazine, identifying wealthy people who could donate what she needed. People such as Theodore Roosevelt, Andrew Carnegie, Ellen Louise Axson Wilson (wife of President Woodrow Wilson), and Henry Ford are among some of the people she entertained who donated money and other things that helped make the Berry College campus become what it is today. A very clever and beneficial approach, in my opinion.

Upstairs there are several bedrooms which all include a bathroom. The bathrooms were part of the renovations that Martha Berry did. Before that, there were no indoor bathrooms.

At times Martha Berry would have female students come and live with her in the house. The student would learn skills on how to run a household and how to manage the finances of the home.

As Martha Berry aged, her students decided to install an elevator in the house. Although an excellent idea, it was notorious for breaking down, leaving Martha Berry stranded for hours. Being clever as she was, she felt that time should be well-spent and always kept a book in the elevator for reading.

Just out the back door of Oak Hill is the home of “Aunt” Martha Freeman, who Martha Berry often referred to as her “next of kin.” Martha Freeman was an enslaved person owned by Capt. Thomas Berry. She lived at Oak Hill with the family. After the emancipation of all enslaved people in America, she chose to remain and work with the Berry family. She is believed to have lived well over 100 years. In her later years, she became blind. Students presented her with a radio that she enjoyed listening to ballgames on.

Her home had a modern kitchen with a stove and refrigerator. Students could come and learn basic cooking skills from “Aunt Martha.”

A portrait of Martha Berry and “Aunt Martha” on the mantle in “Aunt Martha’s” home.

Beyond the house was the carriage house that housed Ford cars owned by Martha Berry and her family. Martha made friends with Clara Ford, the wife of Henry Ford. Henry Ford was a generous benefactor of the Berry Schools. He wanted to remain anonymous but was not able to.

This is a storage building behind Oak Hill. There is a steeple on top of it because Martha Berry believed that steeples on buildings reminded people to turn their eyes toward God. She felt that steeples were more critical on ordinary buildings than on churches.

The back lawn is full of gardens and walking trails. Although we visited on a warm day, the gardens provided plenty of shade. It was lovely and peaceful. It was hard to imagine that we were just off the highway.

Oak Hill was magnificent, and I learned so much. I could only scratch the surface of the information we obtained on our trip. I recommend that you visit and get the entire experience for yourself.

Click HERE for information on museum hours so you can plan your visit.

Click HERE to continue reading about Berry College on my post about Berry College Campus.