Well, I've run out of current winter photos and things are rather boring around here now, so let's take a break and talk about other things. I've drawn on past photos here, so I hope you enjoy them.
A generation ago, in the days of my parents, students in rural areas all went to small one-room schoolhouses. They walked uphill in both directions of course, as my dad liked to say! Later my dad taught in one for several years - see below. They seem to be ubiquitous across the landscape here, spread out approximately the distance students could be expected to walk. Today virtually all of these are homes or weekend homes.
This is the small schoolhouse in Rob Roy, and is unusual in that it is maintained as a museum, with a lot of volunteer help. Note that it's also accessible, probably the only one of the whole group that is! Notice the similarities in architecture of these three
I realize now that all of these are private residences, except for that third one, now a museum. But of course it is the culture of it that I think about, all those children sitting in one-room, usually from grade 1-8 all together. Older kids would be helping younger ones, but the teacher had to be on top of work for all of the grades!
They are all lovely structures and it is wonderful to see they are being used today. The old school house that stood about 4 or 5 miles from our farm home was moved to the nearby town museum many years ago. It wasn't being used as a school when I was a child but the farming community around it used the school for special events including my favorite, the Christmas concert.
ReplyDeleteMy parents actually moved into an old 2 room schoolhouse that had been converted by a prior owner about 10 years or so before they purchased it. It had the oddest layout but was a good solid home for them for their retirement. It was not anywhere near as pretty as these - no stone or brick to be seen.
These are beautiful structures, but I like them mostly without the additions. Around here in the SE US our old one room school houses would have been built of wood, and so are few and far between in those still standing. Thanks for showing me what winter used to look like.
ReplyDeleteMy hubby went to a 1-room school in Chesterville!
ReplyDeleteThey are lovely. A good post these days. Ice, rain, cold, it's a mess out there. I had a lovely fall on the driveway ice. sigh.
I also went to a few 1 & 2 room schoolhouses. A potbelly stove stood in the back of one and our well versed teacher cooked us soup for lunch every day!! Our schoolbus was a station wagon.
ReplyDeleteThey are all lovely. I'd love to live in one!!!
ReplyDeleteLove those old buildings!
ReplyDeleteMy husband taught in a one room school his first year teaching in 1975. It was a K-8 school in an isolated community along the southwest coast of Newfoundland. The only regular access was by coastal boat. Quite a challenge!
Beautiful buildings. As there, many of the old schools in this area are now private homes while most of the others are used for storage. Perhaps most of the old one room schools were actually demolished over the years since they were of frame construction and the wood could have been used in other rural structures.
ReplyDeleteOne room within a safe distance makes such good sense. My primary school had 3 rooms, and classes went from Primer One, or new entrants as they are called now to Standard 6, or Form 2. Just 100 pupils, the headmaster taught Std 5 and 6, and there were 2 other teachers. Outside toilets, a very small teacher's room that was shared by the visiting dental nurse twice a year. She had a treadle drill!! My dentist had NO idea what that was. Love your memory photos.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea and fine photos. Once again I tried commenting from my tablet yesterday, but it still gives me fits.
ReplyDeleteSo nice to see these :)
ReplyDeleteAll the best Jan
I really enjoyed these well-done schoolhouse photos. I'm glad you took the time to take them.
ReplyDelete