French Camp Academy

French Camp Academy (FCA) is an interdenominational Christian boarding home and academy in French Camp, Mississippi. It is intended to serve children who live in troubled households. The school operates several businesses in French Camp, including a bed and breakfast, a gift shop, and a restaurant.

A group of Scotch-Irish Christians, under the area Presbyterian Church, established the Central Mississippi Institute for Girls in 1885. The French Camp Academy for Boys opened later in 1885. The school was intended for children of Native Americans and White settlers who lived in the French Camp area. In 1915 a fire destroyed the girls' school; both the schools for boys and girls combined as the French Camp Academy. In 1950 the school was reorganized under a board of trustees, which represented various Christian denominations.

French Camp Academy is in French Camp, a community in central Mississippi, 80 miles (130 km) south of Tupelo and 90 miles (140 km) north of Jackson. The school has a total of 900 acres (360 ha) of land.

The school hosts the Rainwater Observatory and Planetarium, the largest planetary observatory in Mississippi. The observatory, with 16 telescopes, has a clear view of outer space since it is far from major cities, which are sources of light pollution. The observatory is open by appointment to members of the public.

Residents of French Camp Academy in Grades K-6 attend a public school, French Camp Elementary School. Students in grades 7 - 12 attend French Camp Academy's in-house school.

Students are required to wear school uniforms. High school students may attend a vocational technology program in the Choctaw Vocational Center in Ackerman.

French Camp operates the Council House Café, a restaurant, in a 17-foot (5.2 m) by 17-foot (5.2 m) log cabin that was built in 1820 and once served as a meeting place for Greenwood LeFlore. The school received the building as a donation in 1967. As part of a bicentennial project of students and staff, the log cabin was restored. The Council House serves sandwiches, salads, soups, bread pudding, and Mississippi mud pie. The school uses the restaurant as a training area for students, and the profits from the restaurant fund scholarships for students.

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