The Tidewater News’ staff writer Charlie Passut was granted access inside the old Hayden school this week where he snapped pictures. Clockwise, from above: One of the few desks remaining in the Hayden school building sits upside down in the cluttered gymnasium in the first snapshot.

A stack of handheld fans lie on the counter in the main office of the Hayden school building. Captions on the fans, which were from a local funeral home, read “learning together,” “choir girl” and “family faith.” At right is a framed document from the Commonwealth of Virginia labeled “Code of Ethics.”

Smashed toilets and pieces of porcelain litter the gymnasium floor at Hayden school. The second-floor corridor of the Hayden school building, looking east. Lockers were built into the walls along both sides of the corridor. Another block of lockers, half the height of those lining the walls, stands further down the corridor on the right hand side.

Some books are strewn across the floor, but others are still on the shelf in Classroom No. 10 at Hayden school. The Hayden school building, located in Franklin, first opened its doors in 1952 and served as a high school for black students during segregation. Schools were integrated during the 1970-71 school year, and Hayden became a junior high school.

The grade configurations changed a few times before the school finally closed its doors in June 1986. Vandalism and the elements have taken their toll, but a nonprofit organization wants to purchase and renovate the building into a multi-purpose facility. For more photos from inside Hayden, check out www.TidewaterViews.com.