Berry, Martha McChesney

Berry, Martha McChesney (1866-1942), was an American educator who established schools for poor Southern mountain people. In 1902, she opened a boys’ boarding school in an old log cabin in Mount Berry, Ga. She added a similar school for girls in 1909.

The Berry Schools stressed instruction in agricultural, vocational, and household skills. Berry’s main goal was teaching people skills that would be useful in their own communities. She encouraged her students to return there after graduation. Berry developed a work-study program that enabled students to help pay for their education by doing part-time manual labor. This work was related to their course of study. Berry was a skillful fund-raiser, and many wealthy Northerners donated to her schools. She founded Berry College in 1926 in Mount Berry.

Berry was born on Oct. 7, 1866, near Rome, Georgia. She died on Feb. 27, 1942.