Page 7 - Richmond Hill Driving Trail

STOP Ford Kindergarten
9 11460 Ford Ave.

Built in 1937 by Henry and Clara Ford, this
kindergarten in Ways Station-Richmond Hill
featured a kitchen and two large classrooms for
children aged three to six, with Dr. Margaret
Mustin as its first director. Today, the building
serves as the home of the Richmond Hill Historical
Society and Museum.

Ford provided Dr. Mustin a Ford station wagon
in which to pick up children for school every
day. Because the roads were unpaved, she
often feared getting stuck with a car full of
kindergarteners on rainy days!

STOP Carpenter’s Barbershop:
10 Ford’s Barber

11460 Ford Avenue

Bailey Carpenter became Henry Ford’s regular
barber when Ford first visited Richmond Hill,
with Ford surprising Carpenter by paying the
equivalent of his monthly rent after a haircut
and shave. Ford purchased the barbershop, had it
moved, and continued visiting Carpenter’s shop
every other week during his winter stays, paying
three dollars per haircut and providing Carpenter
with new barbering equipment, which Carpenter
used more than 70 years.

STOPS Burnt Church Cemetery
11-13 16214-16218 Highway 144

Established in 1830, the Bryan Neck Presbyterian
Church is the oldest congregation in Bryan
County, serving planter families in one of
the South Atlantic coast’s most productive
agricultural areas. The original church burned in
1882, and a new church was built in 1885 just
east of here (stop 14), with the adjacent burial
ground remaining home to families like the
Clays, McAllisters, and Maxwells. 6