Young Harris College is a private, Methodist-affiliated liberal arts college located in the mountains of northeast Georgia. The current president is Cathy Cox, former Georgia Secretary of State. The school was founded in 1886 by Reverend Artemas Lester, a circuit-riding Methodist minister who wanted to provide the residents of the Appalachian Mountains with an education. Originally known as McTyeire Institute for the small village where the school was located, the college struggled for the first year until an Athens, Georgia judge, Young L.G. Harris, donated enough money to keep the school open. The school was later renamed Young Harris College in honor of its benefactor, as was the surrounding town in 1895. A fire destroyed the college's main classroom building in 1911, but it was rebuilt by local townspeople and named Sharp Hall in honor of the college president at the time. The Young Harris Academy was founded in the late 19th century and provided a primary education for thousands of students until it closed after World War II. Margaret Adger Pitts, who died in 1998, left an estate valued at $192 million, mostly in Coca-Cola stock acquired by her father in the 1920s.