Picayune School, Coarsegold Historical Society Museum, Coarsegold, CA

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Picayune School

Coarsegold Historical Society Museum

31899 Hwy. 41

Coarsegold, CA 93614

Coarsegold Historic Museum in Coarsegold, CA, is a seasonal adventure, open May through October four days per week. The outbuildings and barn are not air conditioned. When the temperature inside the Kennedy Barn reaches 100 degrees docents are advised to close the Museum. The Museum will accommodate group tours with advance notice. Visitors should wear walking shoes as there are out buildings to visit and an authentic Indian Village complete with grinding rocks in their original place. The Coarsegold Historic Museum features a historic Adobe, the way station from the Valley to the Mountain, a one room schoolhouse (moved to the site), and an authentic Blacksmith Shop. The Museum has been a hidden gem and has grown tremendously since 1993. Guests can learn much about the Coarsegold area and its mining activity and get a true feel for life in the country way back when life was simple. The Picayune School for Chukchansi Indian children, 1913 to 1956; was restored in 2008 on the museum grounds. In front of it is an ore cart from one of numerous gold mines in this area.

Little Red School, Pioneer Village, Searcy, AR

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Little Red School

Pioneer Village

1200 Higginson Street

Searcy, AR 72143

Pioneer Village in Searcy, AR, is a collection of late 19th century buildings, farm equipment, and other items of historic interest saved from throughout White county by the White County Historical Society and Friends of Pioneer Village. The Village is home to 12 buildings and structures representing the lifestyle of White County from the 1880s to the 1920s. All but three of the buildings are restored originals; three have been reconstructed with materials from the period.  Buildings on the grounds include a fruit house, a train depot, a woodworking shop, a log house, Little Red School, an old post office, a smokehouse, a barn, a mill, a store, a strawberry shed, a jail, a blacksmith shop, a cabin, and the Gordon House. The house is the old Gordon House that was moved from the Providence community. The jail is the old Pangburn jail from the early 1900s, and the schoolhouse and the store are from the Little Red community.  There are a variety of items, including machinery, a windmill, and a salt kettle. The beautiful park grounds are maintained by the Master Gardeners program. The Village grounds are open every day from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., but the fully furnished, accessorized buildings are only open for events, field trips, special occasions and on Saturdays during the summer.  The structures are locked..  Visitors may walk on the path and walk up to the structures, but not go inside.

     Spring Open House is the first weekend in May, Fall Festival is the first weekend in November, and the Christmas Open House is on the first Saturday in December. Visitors can tour 1800’s buildings, meet with costumed reenactors, enjoy food, music, pioneer crafts and demonstrations, kettle corn, square dancing, clogging, farm animals, pioneer activities for children, and find much, much more. Admission is free but donations are accepted. All donations are used to improve and maintain the Village.  The items brought by vendors for all the events include soap, jewelry, woodworking, leather, sewn materials, food prepared fresh from a Dutch oven in a covered chuck wagon, rag rugs, yarn made from a spinning wheel, farm animals and kettle corn. There is also live music, clogging, square dancing, a village sheriff and professional Civil War re-enactors who bring their tents and cannon. Items from the vendors can be purchased, but there is no parking or admission charge for visitors. Donations are accepted.  The Village is handicapped accessible.  All the items seen in Pioneer Village have been donated. All donations pertaining to White County and the appropriated period are accepted as long as they do not already have an identical object.

     The idea of Pioneer Village began in the 1960s. It was a dream of Searcy businessman Oran Vaughn, who had fond childhood memories of his grandparents’ home and wanted to preserve the way of life that would soon be forgotten otherwise.   He started gathering the buildings at the White County fairgrounds for future generations to see, and, although he did not know it, started what would become the Pioneer Village. The buildings remained at the fairgrounds until 2000, when the White County Fair Board offered them to the White County Historical Society to make room for more parking.   The Historical Society agreed to take over the Village from the White County Fair Board and move it from the Fairgrounds to the new location.  These structures were planned for demolition in 2002 when the historical society took charge and had the buildings moved to Higginson Road.  After two years of working out the legalities, the first building was moved to the current location in 2002.  The Village has continued to grow and expand since then. Organizers have built a few buildings, like the Trapper Cabin, which was reconstructed from logs found in an old house on Moore Street. They also added the Garner Train Depot in 2006 as the only original building that was not taken from the fairgrounds. The most modern thing in the Village is the new restrooms with hot running water.

The Gordon School, Pioneer Arizona Living History Museum, Phoenix, AZ

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The Gordon School (Original Building)

Pioneer Arizona Living History Museum (1863-1912)

3901 W. Pioneer Road

Phoenix, AZ 85086

The Pioneer Living History Museum is located at 3901 W. Pioneer Road in Phoenix, Arizona, nestled in the black rock foothills of Northern Phoenix. The museum, also known as Pioneer Village, has 30 historic original and reconstructed buildings from the 1880s and early 1900s on its 90-acre property. In 1956, a group of Arizona history enthusiasts became concerned about the razing and demolition of historical buildings in the state of Arizona as a result of new construction by land developers. This group formed the “Pioneer Arizona Foundation, Inc. Among the notable founders of the foundation were former Governor Paul Fannin, Senator Barry Goldwater, Senator Carl Hayden, and Wesley Bolin.

     The main goal of the foundation was to save some of the historical buildings that were built between the years 1870 and 1910. The members of the foundation believed that by saving these buildings and by creating an atmosphere of the era, future generations would benefit by learning about what the early pioneers of the west went through. The foundation purchased 90 acres of land in north Phoenix and the museum was inaugurated in February 15, 1969. Among the exhibits found in the museum is the Exhibit Hall Firearms, Tools, Locks & Keys.  There are 10 original historical buildings and structures including the structures of a ranch complex and a farm. The museum also has 15 reconstructed buildings and/or structures.

    One of the original structures is The Gordon School which was originally built in Gordon Canyon, located 30 miles east of Payson, Arizona, on the Mogollon Rim. The structure was the home of William Gordon and his family, later converted to educational use after their family moved to Grapevine, Arizona. William and Elizabeth Gordon arrived in Arizona in 1874 from Oregon. One son died during the move by covered wagon, leaving a son and five daughters. Research by the late Jess Haves, Gila County School Superintendent, shows that the buildings were first used by the Gordons for living quarters. The Gordons moved to Steamboat Rock near Grapevine above Roosevelt Lake in the 1880’s.

     The school was in use to teach the citizens of the area from approximately 1885 until 1930. The original school records were lost when Gila County split off from Yavapai, so an exact date of construction was unable to be determined. The interior depicts a typical 1890’s territorial school house.  In 1890 all eight grades received their education in this one-room schoolhouse. School was in session from March through November, and classes were not held in the winter.  The school, teacherage, and cabin (Ranch Complex) from the Mogollon Rim are examples of the lengths Pioneer Arizona went to obtain and restore historic buildings.  The buildings were moved from Gordon Canyon to Pioneer Arizona by the Arizona National Guard. Twenty, nine-foot logs were moved 150 miles using a tank-retrieving, 40-foot, lowboy rig to haul the logs from the Christopher Creek area. This was accomplished after Neighborhood Youth Corps enrollees camped out and marked each log and coded every nail hole and strip of chinking.

     A three-month search was conducted nationwide; until 7 adzes (a hoe-like, obsolete axe-like tool used to hand-hew the logs) were acquired to be used in hewing replacement logs. The construction features square-notch corners.  The schoolhouse became the first completely restored historical building at Pioneer Arizona, and a dedication ceremony was held on October 23, 1966. Funds for the restoration had been donated by the Washington Woman’s Club, who dedicated the school in the memory of Hattie Greene Lockette, a teacher, author, and founder of the Washington Women’s Club.  On the day of the dedication, the motto of Pioneer Arizona Living History Museum was written on the blackboard: “Faith, Foresight, and Fortitude Equal Pioneer Spirit.”

Saxman’s historic schoolhouse, Ketchikan, AK

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Saxman’s historic schoolhouse

2706 S. Tongass Hwy.

Ketchikan, AK 99901

Saxman is located on the west side of Revillagigedo Island, 3 miles south of Ketchikan on the South Tongass Highway.  In 1886, Tlingits from the old villages of Tongass and Cape Fox wanted a new site to construct a central BIA school and Presbyterian Church. The village subsequently was named for Samuel Saxman, a Presbyterian teacher who was lost at sea with a Cape Fox elder while searching for the new site. By 1894, the new village site was chosen, ideally located on a protected harbor off the Tongass Narrows. A small sawmill was built and construction of the school and houses began immediately.

   The original 1894 historic schoolhouse stands at the corner of South Tongass Highway and Totem Row.  After the school closed, the building served as the Saxman city hall for many years.  Currently, the community’s tribal council has its offices inside.  And it’s thought to be the oldest inhabited building in the community of about 400 people.  In 2021, Saxman’s Cape Fox Corporation proposed to bulldoze or relocate the schoolhouse and build a grocery store on the site of the 19th-century schoolhouse, but after pushback, shelved the plan to replace historic schoolhouse with grocery store.  Many saw Saxman’s former schoolhouse as one of a precious few remaining connections to past generations and implored the council to retain the land and leave the structure standing.  What comes next is unclear.

Alaska (P.E.I.) Schoolhouse, O’Leary, PEI Canada

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Alaska (P.E.I.) Schoolhouse

Dewar Lane

O’Leary, PEI Canada  C0B 1V0

Not many people know that there was a community on Prince Edward Island called Alaska.  It’s located in western PEI not far from the Brae, close to Coleman, near O’Leary.  The historic former one-room Alaska schoolhouse No 179, now in O’Leary, Prince Edward Island, Canada, was built circa 1900 in the district of Alaska, PEI, was formerly located in the rural community of Alaska, and was used as a school building until 1972 when, with consolidation of schools, it closed. While in use it housed students from grades one to ten inclusive.  In 1975, it was later moved to the town of O’Leary, PEI, where it is now located on Dewar Lane next to the Canadian Potato Museum and open to the public as a museum. Behind the PEI Potato Museum in O’Leary is Centennial Park with four historic buildings which belong to the museum complex.  The Alaska Schoolhouse was moved there a few years ago. The schoolhouse has been restored and is known as the “Little Red Schoolhouse.”

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The Hunt School (1932-1955), Arab Historic Village, Arab, AL 35016

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The Hunt School (1932-1955)

Arab Historic Village

844 Shoal Creek Trail

Arab, AL 35016

The Arab Historic Village in Arab, Marshall County, AL, is a reconstructed historic site dedicated to the promotion and preservation of the early pioneer history of the town of Arab and north central Alabama. In cooperation with the City of Arab, The Arab Historical Society developed the Historic Village in the City Park as a tribute to the pioneering people who settled and built this area into the prosperous, community-spirited place it is today. Development of the village started in 1991 as a Centennial project of the Historical Society. At the present time, ten period and reconstructed buildings have been completed and are furnished with items from 1880 through the 1940’s. They are the 1935 Old Hunt School, 1912 Rice Church, Smith’s Country store, Elvin Light Museum, Grist Mill, Blacksmith shop and club demonstration home.

     In 1990, in support of the town’s upcoming 1992 Centennial Celebration, the Arab Historical Society donated the Hunt School building to the city. The society had been founded in 1987 to preserve the history of Arab and the surrounding areas. The two-room school was built in the nearby Strawberry community (located just south of Arab in Blount County) in 1935 and served grades one through six. The structure was relocated to the Arab City Park, and the Historical Society renovated it in time for the Centennial. The school became the catalyst for the creation of the Arab Historic Village. This two-room school was for students in first through sixth grades.  Named after Jesse and Sarah Hunt, it was built in the Strawberry Community in 1935, and was donated to the Arab Historical Society in 1990 by Bobby Miller.  The Society moved it to the Arab City Park and restored it as a Centennial project, and it became the first installment at the Arab Historic Village. Visitors get a glimpse of early education before there were cafeterias and running water.

     In 1993, the Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church donated the 1911 Rice Church building. Originally known as Liberty Church, it was built to serve as a Primitive Baptist Church in the Rice community just west of Arab. Arab Historical Society members and volunteers restored the church, and it opened to the public in October 1995.  The Arab Historic Village is operated by the Arab Historical Society in cooperation with the city of Arab and is located next to the city park. There is a $5 fee for Christmas in the Village.  During some special events, visitors interact with volunteers performing some of the tasks required of persons of the 1880-1940’s era such as quilting, making corn meal in the gristmill and working with iron in the blacksmith shop. Singings and weddings can be held in the Rice Church.

Bell School, Iuka, IL

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Bell School

Apple and Metcalf Rds.

Iuka, IL  62849

Bell School, #151, was a one-room school building located on Apple Rd. in Haines Township, Marion County, Illinois. The primary coordinates for the site where Bell School was situated currently place it within the Iuka, IL, 62849 ZIP Code delivery area. The first school in Haines Township was built in 1847.  Bell School was organized in 1866.  At times, the attendance was as high as 68 pupils in one year.  It was consolidated with Kell School in 1953.  The building was later torn down.

One Room Buckeye School, The Nici Self Historical Museum, Centennial, Wy

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One Room Buckeye School

The Nici Self Historical Museum

2734 Highway 130

Centennial, Wyoming

     The Nici Self Historical Museum is located at 2734 Highway 130 in Centennial, Wyoming, at the base of the Snowy Range Mountains. Operated by the Centennial Valley Historical Association and a corps of dedicated volunteers, it was organized in the early 1970s as part of a community effort to be recognized as a Bicentennial community. Berniece “Nici” Self was one of the founding members, and the museum is named in her honor.  Exhibits celebrate the mining, ranching, and railroading history of the area. Several buildings from around the area have been moved to the grounds and are open to visitors.

     The one room school house was used from the early 1900s until the early 1960s. Originally a log building, it was covered with stucco after the students’ parents attended a Christmas program at the school in the late 1950s and realized just how cold the building was; it was heated only by a cast iron stove which couldn’t keep up with the wind blowing in between the logs. In its original location, the school had an outhouse, and a stable out back where the students kept their horses – their only mode of transportation to and from school.

     The school was moved to the museum grounds on August 17, 2007, thanks in part to grants from the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund and the Guthrie Family Foundation. The interior has been refurbished and furnished as it was when used as a school based on interviews with students who attended this school, as well as one of the teachers who arrived in Centennial when she was just 18 years old.  The Nici Self Historical Museum is open from Memorial Day to Labor Day, Thursday through Monday, noon to 4 PM. In September, it’s open Saturday and Sunday, noon to 4 PM. Admission is always free, but donations are gratefully accepted.

Akey School Museum, Richland Center, WI

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Akey School Museum

County Hgwy. TB

Richland Center, WI 53581

The Akey School Museum is located on County Highway TB, midway between the unincorporated communities of Twin Bluffs and Gotham near Richland Center, WI. The Museum is a restored, fully equipped one-room rural school house with vintage books, maps, globes, desks, and more.  Sponsored by the Richland County Historical Society, the Akey School Museum is open Sunday afternoons during June, July, and August, from 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. There is no admission fee; however, donations are gratefully accepted.

     In 1851 the town boards of Buena Vista and Orion established a joint school district to pool the resources of the two townships. The first school house, a log structure was built in 1869. During those intervening years, school sessions were held in a farm house close by the current location of the school. This first building was built on a parcel of land taken from Lemuel Akey’s farm and therefore named for him. Akey was also a member of the school board.

     In 1894, the school district residents taxed themselves additional funds to construct a modern building, which was still located on the Akey farm. In 1916, the Akey School was moved to its present site and placed on a foundation over a basement.  During the early days of the school, teachers’ wages were $130 for the three month winter and three month summer terms. Before 1889 there was a state law that allowed school districts to require students to furnish their own books. A vote was taken in 1889 which failed and this practice lasted well into the 1920s.

Ovie and Jesse Cline One-Room School Museum at Marshall University, Huntington, WV

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Ovie and Jesse Cline One-Room School Museum at Marshall University

Fifth Ave.

Huntington, WV 25755

Located on Fifth Avenue in Huntington, WV, on the Marshall University campus, between Holderby Hall and the Campus Christian Center, this is a one-room schoolhouse where all elementary students were taught in a single room. It was constructed in rural Cabell County ca. 1888, with a simple wood-frame construction typical of rural 19th century schools, and originally stood at Punkin as a Center School. The circa 1888 one-room schoolhouse was relocated to and dedicated on the Marshall campus in 1995 to honor West Virginia’s rural education heritage. It was donated by Mrs. Tina F. Bryan of Glenwood, WV, in memory of his husband Mr. James E. Bryan, and was funded by alumnus Phil Cline in memory of his parents, who attended and taught in a one-room school.  Today, it currently houses the Ovie and Jesse Cline Museum.