No more Dyke for boys school

Parents accustomed to mailing care packages to their sons at Blue Ridge School have been using a different address for the last few years– but who (besides them) knew? Yep, mail that formerly went to the school at Dyke, VA (population ~3050) has been going to St. George, VA since 1999.

Robert Murphy, assistant headmaster for advancement at the all-boys prep school in Greene County, says officials at the school decided to return to the community's original name in time for the school's centennial in 2009. But the paperwork moved through the post office faster than expected, and it's been St. George since 1999– unbeknownst to everyone we know.

The little burg of St. George, which got its name from the school's patron saint, was one of several along Bacon Hollow Road a hundred years ago, Murphy says, each one with its own post office, usually in a country store. When zip codes arrived, and it was necessary to combine them all in one convenient drop spot, Dyke won because it was situated on Rt. 810, which Murphy calls the "main road."

People who wonder how an all-boys school survived so long in a town called Dyke– which has become a pejorative term for lesbians– will understand that didn't seem so bad compared to the previous option.

It turns out, Murphy says, that even before St. George, the care packages went to another post office. Because the school's original name was Blue Ridge Industrial School, the first post office was called Bris, VA.

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