This is the original school building and campus built in 1905.

This addition was used
from 1923 to 1950

This is our current building
and campus.

        The Atlantic Graded School opened October 30^th, 1905 for students in grades one through nine. The school came about as a result of Joseph W. Mason, N.C. House of Representative Member of 1903, appearing before the County Commissioners and requesting local taxation, approved by an overwhelming majority of the 500 citizens of Atlantic.  They secured a $1,000 loan from the state to help erect a commodious two story academy building forty feet by seventy feet.
        On July 1, 1906, the tenth and eleventh grades were added, making it the first public high school in Carteret County.  The first principal was R.C. Holton. 
        The 1905 building was used until 1923, when it was cut in half and moved from the corner of the grave yard to the present campus, which was located next to the present auditorium.  A basement was added, the outside was bricked and tall brick steps were added on all sides. 
         Between 1912 and 1916 there were twenty three students from Atlantic High School enrolled in North Carolina Colleges.  This was about the time Atlantic High School go the reputation for having the highest percentages of their graduates to attend college.  It seemed that a large number of teachers were getting their beginnings at Atlantic High School plus numerous doctors and lawyers.
        In 1924, the state started a teacher training program in high schools. Only 18 counties were selected to participate and in Carteret County only Atlantic High School was selected. 
        This program trained high school graduates for one year and if they successfully passed the course they were given a teaching certificate.  This program ran from 1925-1930.  There may have been 50 or 60 graduates of this program.  Besides local students, bordering students participated from Cedar Island, Sea Level, Stacy, and Davis’ Shore.  This program helped with reducing a big state wide teacher shortage and many of these students kept going to summer school to upgrade their certificates and eventually earning degrees.
        The depression probably ended the funding for the program.
        In 1935, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the gymnasium, which is still in use.  This gym and the one at Newport were built from the same blue print. 
        Hilda Brickhouse, Alice Ellis, Guiela West, and Frankie Willis were on the early girls basketball team.  Randolph Mason and Hugh Salter were on the early boys basketball team. 
        The twelth grade was added in 1947- there was not a graduating class in 1946.
        The present building was built in 1950 and served as the high school campus until 1965 when the high school grades were consolidated into East Carteret High School.  Atlantic High School lasted for 60 years while Atlantic Elementary School has carried on for an additional forty years and is ranked as an Exceptional School by the State of North Carolina. 
        The inscription on the sign in front of the campus still applies:
                 “Where there is no vision, the people perish” Proverbs