Archives Closed Schools N-P: Penile Elementary School

Last Address: 2302 Blevins Gap Road

Year Opened: 1840's

Year Closed: 1958

The school was one of the earliest in Jefferson County. A log school was constructed before 1843. Another log cabin replaced it about 1873. The building was replaced with a frame school in 1904. The county board donated another old one-room school which was moved to the Penile location as an addition. A five-room brick building was erected in 1933.  The address was also given as Bear Camp Road about three miles southwest of Fairdale. The school was named for the area in which it was located. The community was named for a Biblical reference, probably the story of Jacob wrestling with an angel at Peniel.  After the school closed, the property was sold in 1958 to a Baptist mission and became the site of Penile Baptist Church.