Gathering of friends: Alumni of Parks Grove School gathered at Burge Plantation on April 17 for a reunion and celebration organized by Joyce Perry Traylor. Parks Grove School stood near the corner of Jeff Cook Road and Morehouse Road in eastern Newton County from about 1912 until 1947. It was established and built by Ida Gray Morehouse and her husband Merritt Morehouse, grandparents of the current owner of Burge, to provide schooling for black children at a time when public education was difficult or non-existent for them. On Sundays the school served as a church. Teachers at the school lived at Burge, in a cottage which now houses the history of Burge and includes a panel with a picture of the school and names of students, teachers and ministers remembered by Joyce Traylor. Those attending the reunion enjoyed a picnic, some beautiful singing led by alumnus Horacial Benton, and reconnecting with old friends.