 The school was originally only for white male students , with " negroes and persons of color " using a separate facility , but integration occurred thirty years later and the school also began to educate women in 1842 . Throughout the first 136 years of Bacon Academy 's operation its endowment was its sole provider of funding . In 1939 , the town began contributing funds to the institution , resulting in the loss of complete control of its own affairs . In 1982 , at the time of its National Register of Historic Places nomination , the trust provided a " small percentage " of Bacon Academy 's funding . 
