Meadow School District #3 – Rurality Blog Hop #9
Meadow School District #3 – Rurality Blog Hop #9

Meadow School District #3 – Rurality Blog Hop #9

Meadow School Distgrict #3 - 1888 - Skagit Valley WA

Old one and two-room school houses are a passion of mine.

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Finding and photographing old school houses has been and is a passion of mine.

For many years I have spent time researching, driving and shooting as many of these old one

and two-room school houses as I am able to find around the Pacific Northwest.

They are elusive.

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Rural one and two-room schools were each a ‘district’ unto their own.

Depending upon the area, there might be three or four that would or could be found per township.

Most of these little schools were destroyed literally

and figuratively by the sweep of school district consolidation that occurred during the mid 1940s to 50s.

Which means that nowadays, most of these school houses have long abandoned for six-five to seventy-five years.

That’s a long time for a wood-frame, unattended to structure to stand.

Some were torn down immediately, some moved to a nearby ranch or farm and used for outbuildings or left to decay in place.

Some I have found were partially burnt out or destroyed by livestock or wild infestation.

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I may have mentioned my search methods before, but in case you missed it, here is my work path.

First of course decide the area you want to look for school houses.

Second, go to Metsker Maps in downtown Seattle (you can order maps on line too) and buy a map of the county you choose.

Using the map legend I create a hollow square template (using a piece of manila file folder) cut

to the size of the townships shown on the map (not every map is the same size, even from the same manufacturer).

Next, I spread out the map and start in one corner of the county,

moving my hollow square township template one township/range at a time,

pouring over the roads, looking for markings of old school districts.

Sometimes, I make note of old towns (ghost) and cemeteries too,

they often indicated where pioneer settlements were at one time.

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After all my research comes the fun part, on my travels, I systematically try to locate these schools and places where I might find one.

Sometimes, I score, but most of the time you come up on the spot and there is nothing at all,

but memories floating in the wind

and dust of school days

gone by.

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Here is one school house found by that method in the Skagit Valley west of Mount Vernon.

It is being used as a gift shop at the Christensen Nursery on Best Road.

I loved that it is still useful, full of the sounds of voices

and aging gracefully.

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‘RURALITY BLOG HOP’ #9

It’s time for you to enter your photos in ‘Rurality Blog Hop – #9.’ ‘Rurality Blog Hop’ is open to everyone who would like to share something about rural life. The linky will open every Wednesday morning around 09:00 Pacific Time and will close Thursday at midnight.

GUIDELINES:

  1. Consider following me, ‘The View From Right Here‘, in most cases I’ll follow you back.
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  3. Please just ONE family friendly post about rural themes per week please.
  • Rural photography, rural life, thrift, pets and livestock, recipes, crafts, etc.
  1. Submit the url of your ‘Rurality Blog Hop,’ blog post, not your main blog url, using the LinkyTools prompt below.
  2. Google+ users – submit the url of your posted photo on G+.
  3. Include the ‘Rurality Blog Hop’ badge (or a text link) in your blog post.
  4. Visit some of other entries, meet some new people and leave encouraging comments.

(I reserve the right to remove any post that is inappropriate and multiple entries from the same blog.)

(Permalink to create your own text link back to this post: http://www.theviewfromrighthere.com/blog/?p=10042)

Rurality Blog Hop #9

Thank you for visiting and sharing!

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38 Comments

  1. Looks like this school house is in good shape, Madge.

    There is a used to be School House to the west of us that has not been used for about 10 years. It’s now a make shift hunting lodge. There is another School house east of us that is used and maintained by a local 4-H Club.

  2. The teacher in me is always looking for these charming little buildings. The one in your post reminds me of a little church we found in the Smokey Mts. years ago so I did a double take.
    Growing up my bus dropped off kids at two different one room school houses. My parents sent me to the city school thinking it was best for me. Both of those old schools still stand.
    Love your shot! The weathered wood is gorgeous.

  3. This is a really great photo – and find! I find your research methods so interesting, I’ve been hunting for the one-room school houses of Jamaica, Vermont. There were 14 in operation until 1960 when the town consolidated the schools into one in the village. I found a historical map with all the districts and schools, which should make it easy, but believe it or not, the roads have significantly changed. These are so fun to find! Thanks for sharing this!

  4. I remember the one room school building my mother attended long ago and like many you referenced, it was eventually destroyed for new construction of a consolidated school. It is very cool that you research and seek these out for photographic prosperity.

  5. I love how you go about finding places to photograph! I need to carry a notebook because often I see something but don’t have time to stop, then I forget. Great photo, btw! I absolutely adore old structures :)

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