Mr. and Mrs. Hammond

Briarwood Academy Headmaster

Headmaster John Hammond is currently in his 47th year as an educator and teaching his third generation of students “because of my great love for the students.”
A native of Edgefield, S.C., and a graduate of Edgefield High School, Mr. Hammond went on to study history at the post-secondary level and eventually earn a Bachelor of Science in Education, Master in Education, and Education Specialist degrees from Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, with certifications in history, guidance and counseling, and educational leadership.

Mr. Hammond began his teaching career at Thomson High School in 1961, teaching history, government and English. He became counselor at Thomson High in 1964 and remained in that position for the next 17 years. In 1980, he became the principal of Pine Street Elementary School where he remained until his retirement in 1991 with 30 years in the McDuffie County public school system. Mr. Hammond immediately came out of retirement and returned to his first love, the classroom, teaching history and government at Silver Bluff High School in Aiken, S.C., for the next two years.

In the spring of 1993, a group of Briarwood parents persuaded Mr. Hammond to become Headmaster of Briarwood Academy, and he has served in that capacity since that fall. A talented musician, Mrs. Hammond teaches piano and organ at Briarwood.

Mr. Hammond and his wife, Gayle, herself a veteran, retired school teacher, have two sons, Chad and Britt, both residents of Thomson and partners in the law firm of Hammond & Hammond, Inc. Britt, who is the Juvenile Court Judge for the Toombs Judicial Circuit, and his wife, Tamara, another veteran school teacher, have gifted the Hammonds with three grandchildren. Sarah Gayle, Elizabeth, and John Thomas. All are students at Briarwood.