Brown Mountain, North Carolina
Brown Mountain has a variety of notable landmarks including Brown Mountain Baptist Church, a structure built entirely of locally acquired rock, and Nancy Reynolds School, an elementary (K-5th grade) public school primarily built with funding from the estate of R.J. Reynolds of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company.
In 1923, the newly formed Reynolds Foundation fully financed the construction of Nancy Reynolds Memorial School built at the birthplace of his and Will Reynolds' mother, Nancy Jane Cox Reynolds, in the Brown Mountain community. In 1930, the Reynolds Foundation paid for the construction of two wings adjoining the original building. During the Depression, Will Reynolds covered the costs for an additional month of school in order for Nancy Reynolds to become accredited. In the 1950s, the foundation financed and built the school's freestanding gymnasium and built and equipped its large agricultural building. A memorial gift that still provides for the school today is an endowment set up after the death of Kate Bitting Reynolds, Will's wife, with the yearly dividends to be used solely for the upkeep of grounds, exterior beautification projects and playground equipment. As of 2008, the endowment's total value is now more than three-quarters of a million dollars and easily supports its intended use.
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36°27′14″N 80°20′21″W / 36.4540267°N 80.3392213°W