Gustavus Orr came about shortly after the Civil War and laid the seeds for early public education in Georgia. Though unclear as to exactly when, Berrien County had its own local school board in operation by the mid 1880s.

Schools were quickly built around the county, anywhere and everywhere. Most were no bigger than one-room shacks. One of the few still-standing examples of these structures is the John Brown School, whose white-painted remains are just west of the old Enigma campus on Highway 82.

The most famous of the early schools was the McPherson Academy, which once stood at the intersections of McPherson and Berrien Streets. It was originally built for the Duncan Masonic Lodge. The school started in the 1880s and was the main educational source until Nashville added a city school in the early years of the 1900s.

The sheer amount of schools brought the school board to make a decision in 1903. No school could be within three miles of another. While that forced some places to combine, no record is known until 1906. In that year, Guthrie, Round Pond, and Possum Trot combined into one.

Forty schools (for caucasian children) existed in 1908. The number is still quite high, but the number would soon be reduced by the creation of new counties from Berrien's borders: Cook (1918) and Lanier (1920).

Education didn't receive the biggest emphasis at this point, particulary as rural Berrien contained a high percentage of farmland. Children were needed to work the fields. As a result, the vast majority of schools in the county operated under three- and seven-month terms and seven or nine grades. For the longest, only Nashville Grammar & High School operated under a nine-month term and ten grades (the state later expanded the amount to eleven, then twelve), which later meant that Nashville had the only accredited school in the county.

Though most of the students went to rural schools with the shorter terms, they weren't limited to them. If the student could provide transportation, pay tuition and books, Nashville's city schools were available. Over time, Ray City, Enigma, Poplar Springs, and Alapaha were accredited and graduated high school students as well.

Gradually, education became of more importance. In turn, the Berrien school board began consolidating some of the one-room schools to better serve the students. In 1934, the number of (caucasian) schools was down to 24:
Alapaha, Avera Mill, Bannockburn, Brown, Cottle, Deep Ditch, Enigma, Flat Creek, Gaskins, Griffin, Griner, Jordan, Live Oak, Livingston, Nashville, New Home, New Lois, Parrish, Pleasant Vale, Poplar Springs, Sappling Grove, Ray City, Tygart, and White Pond

The number was reduced by five for the following school year. Griffin and Live Oak went to unknown facilities. New Home is assumed to have combined with either Bannockburn or Alapaha. Parrish and White Pond became part of New Lois.

Deep Ditch faced a financial crisis soon after. It needed a new building and lacked the funds to construct one. Desperate, representatives went all the way to Atlanta to meet with State School Superintendent, M.D. Collins. Collins decided against giving them funds and told the Deep Ditch supporters to consolidate with Nashville.

Many of the others also faced consolidation by the end of the 1930s. In 1936, Pleasant Vale and Sappling Grove went to Ray City. Brown became a part of New River as Jordan received those from Livingston.

In 1937, New River expanded further. Jordan's school burned, forcing the schools together. New River's gym was utilized as classrooms until a new school was built.

A much more feasible number - 11 - existed in 1939:
Alapaha, Cottle, Enigma, Gaskins, Jordan, Nashville, New Lois, New River, Poplar Springs, Ray City, and Tygart

Tygart survived these early attempts, but had its own problems. In 1941, it burned. With finances growing tighter as World War II loomed, the school made no further attempts and quietly combined with Nashville.

African-American schools were also involved in Berrien's attempts to consolidate.

For the 1940-41 school term, schools existed in:
Alapaha, Crenshaw, Enigma, Glory, Hercules Power Company, Nashville, Ray City, Side Camp, and Weber

The general locations of Hercules and Side Camp are unknown. Regardless, they, Crenshaw, Enigma, Glory, and Weber disappeared within 10 years.

Talks began to totally consolidate high school students in 1948. 1950 saw Poplar Springs' 11th grade move to Nashville; the rest of the high school followed suit in 1951.

Consolidation was pretty much a foreign thought in the 1940s in the area. A few northern counties had done so earlier - Rabun (1925), Dade (1925), Murray (1934), and mid-southern Schley (1937). Cook County was the first area system to do so in 1949. Surrounding areas did so as following: Irwin (1954), Lowndes (1959), Brooks (1959), Atkinson (1955), Coffee (1955), Tift (1962).

1954 became the pivotal year. There was to be one (caucasian) high school in Berrien County. The nine that remained combined under a single roof that fall.

Further action saw the elementaries of Cottle and New Lois combined with Nashville. Jordan and New River stayed together, but with a new name - West Berrien. Similarly, Poplar Springs and Gaskins combined to form East Berrien. The city schools remained. Unlike the nine schools that composed Berrien, only three consolidated to form a new school for African-American children. Prior mergers had reduced the children to having schools in Alapaha, Nashville, and Ray City. The Flying Falcons, as the new Nashville High & Elementary were known as, remained until 1970 as total integration occurred across the state. The process had slowly begun here in February 1966.

With the sweeping changes in 1954 came building projects. Berrien High received a brand-new building as did Nashville High & Elementary, Alapaha and the freshly-combined West Berrien.

Oddly, out of all the new buildings came only one gymnasium (Nashville High & Elementary). Alapaha had a gym remaining from its old building; West Berrien never had one built. Berrien High was forced to use Alapaha, Ray City, Enigma, and the shell it had formerly used in Nashville (a ramshackle building condemned 10 years later). It wasn't until 1962 that Berrien had a gym of its own.

The other schools had perfectly usable buildings. East Berrien was housed in the Gaskins School, two structures of wood facilities. While aged, Enigma (built in 1926) and Ray City (1922) had brick buildings that they continued to use. Enigma's, unfortunately, was a victim of arson during the 1973-74 school term; classes were held in the gym and lunchroom until mobile units filled the void. Ray City built additional structures, but continued to use the original building until the demise of the school.

Over the years, with increased technology and paved roads, the need for so many rural elementaries diminished. East Berrien moved into Nashville in 1966. Enigma was forced into West Berrien in 1988, the combined districts taking the new name of Northwest Elementary.

Funding forced decisions in the next few years. 1993 was picked to be the year that all county schools combined. A new building was already standing that bore the name of Berrien Middle. Some schools balked out of concern for their communities, causing plans to delay for a year. All complied in 1994. Nashville, Ray City, Northwest, and Alapaha were no more. Gone were the Bulldogs, Beavers, Mounties, and Tigers.

The only construction project had been the new middle school, which served grades 6-8. Nashville Elementary (K-5) became Berrien Primary (K-2). Nashville Middle (6-8), which used the plant of Nashville High & Elementary, stood as Berrien Elementary (3-5).

Information gleaned from: Berrien County History (1976), the Nashville Herald, and Berrien Press.