The Atauloma Girls School is a historic parochial school building in Afao village on the island of Tutuila in American Samoa. The London Missionary Society opened it in 1900 as the second secondary school on Tutuila (after the Fagalele Boys School), and the first to admit girls. For most of its history it prepared girls primarily to be pastors' wives, and after 1913 provided graduates to the nursing school at the naval station at Pago Pago. Its establishment saved Tutuila girls the necessity of travel to Upolu for secondary school, which separated them from their families and exposed them to the dangers of the international port at Apia. Atauloma was abandoned by 1970.[1]

Atauloma Girls School
Photograph of a two-story building with broad verandas in a tropical setting
The Atauloma Girls School ca. 1971
LocationAfao, American Samoa
Coordinates14°19′48″S 170°48′06″W / 14.33°S 170.801667°W / -14.33; -170.801667
Area6 acres (2.4 ha)[1]
Built1900
NRHP reference No.72001445
Added to NRHPMarch 16, 1972

The school was listed on the United States National Register of Historic Places in 1972.[2] It was featured on the television program Ghost Hunters International in its third-season episode "Ghoul's School" in 2012.[3]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Apple, Russell A. (July 9, 1971), National Register of Historic Places Inventory — Nomination Form: Atauloma Girls School (PDF), retrieved December 3, 2014.
  2. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 24, 2008.
  3. ^ Hayner, Jeff (March 24, 2012), "Ghost Hunters check out Atauloma", Samoa News, archived from the original on December 7, 2014, retrieved December 3, 2014.
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