There are thousands of historic markers across the state detailing the history of people and places that made a mark on Georgia, and only a handful of them are here in Polk County. This weekend, the state and Cedartown got to add one more to the list, honoring the people and a place in time that was vital to the development of education for all in the state.

Cedar Valley Academy was a short-lived institution in local and state history, but played a major role in ensuring the equality of education across the board – no matter the physical condition of the student.

The school which once served deaf students in Cedartown ultimately closed its doors and consolidated into what became the Georgia School for the Deaf in Cave Spring. Yet the work that went on at CVA made history then, and is time that is honored now thanks to the Georgia Historical Society.

The new marker unveiled on Brooks Street at the Prior family cemetery honors that academy around the area where it once served students in the early days of the state’s expansion inward in the 1830s, in part thanks to the Prior family.

WATCH: Historic marker celebrates Cedartown’s connection with deaf education

Five of the fourteen children born to Asa Prior family were deaf – the two oldest and three youngest – but all were taught sign language and got the chance to get an education even during a time when rural, quality education was a dream for most in an expanding United States in the first half of the 19th century.

However it was the efforts of John J. Flourney in 1833 through his petition to the state legislature to establish a deaf school in the state, so those who needed access to education didn’t have to travel to the American School for the Deaf, which was located in Connecticut.

The school ran for 10 years in 1845 before ultimately folding into the Georgia School for the Deaf in Cave Spring in 1846.

Breana James, GHS’ Historical Marker and Programs Director, gave brief remarks at the event about the importance of preserving Georgia’s long history in the places where it happened via the more than 2,000 markers that are setup statewide.

“With this historical marker, anyone can simply ride or walk up and read about deaf education in the 19th century America and the impact it had on Cedartown’s growth,” she said. “The deaf education provided at CVA influenced the state legislature to provide funding for specialized education for all deaf Georgians.”

County Commissioner Jordan Hubbard – who put on his educator hat for the event – noted even in the founding constitution of Georgia, the desire to ensure equal access to learning for youth was present from the state’s beginning. When Cedar Valley Academy was established in 1835, it was in Hubbard’s view it was a promise the state was able to keep even in an area that was still considered a frontier in many respects versus the cities further east in Augusta and Savannah.

“In (post) colonial Georgia, this right here is an example of the investment in education based on a lobbying effort to get funding back into small communities,” he said.

GALLERY: New historic marker unveiled remembering Cedar Valley Academy

Adonia Smith also added the local history of the academy, and how it was the foundations that Georgia School for the Deaf just a handful of miles north in Cave Spring was ultimately built. She additionally recognized the contributions of the educators who gave students a voice.

“The CVA had a very important role in the establishment of what we know as the Georgia School for the Deaf,” Smith said. “The Cedar Valley Academy, what did that school mean? A place for empowerment, a place for inclusivity, and a place where the deaf could intermingle with the hearing people.”

Following the unveiling on Saturday, the Polk County Historical Society held a reception at the History Museum on West Avenue.

The new marker can be found on Brooks Street in front of the historic Prior Cemetery near the corner of Clyde Drive.

The Georgia Historical Society’s Historical Marker program is dedicating six new markers in total this year. Saturday’s event was the fifth marker unveiling so far in 2024. The final marker goes up in Darien this month.