Huckins Schoolhouse, Sanilac County Historic (al Society) Village and Museum, Port Sanilac, MI

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Huckins Schoolhouse

Sanilac County Historic Village and Museum

228 S. Ridge Street

Port Sanilac, Michigan 48469

The Sanilac County Historic Village and Museum is a collection of more than a dozen historic buildings located on ten acres of the original Dr. Joseph Loop estate in the Lake Huron harbor village of Port Sanilac, Michigan. The Sanilac County Historical Society invites visitors to step back in time as they wander through the beautiful gardens and the Victorian, Edwardian, and vintage buildings and exhibits that are featured on the property.

      Permanent collections include marine shipwreck items, military memorabilia, and Native American artifacts. The 1872 Loop-Harrison mansion is furnished in period; many of the accoutrements original to the family. A functioning centennial schoolhouse gives hundreds of local elementary-age children the experience of learning in a one-room 1800’s environment every year. The turn of the century General Store and Historic Church still fulfill their original purposes. One of Michigan’s most popular performance venues – the Barn Theatre – is housed in the Loop family’s 1880’s era barn on the museum property and, if one enjoys ghost stories, they have our share of those too. People will travel to another century simply by paying a visit.

The Historic Village is an ever-changing entity. They are always in the process of restoring and refurbishing their precious antique buildings. The museum complex survives due to the dedication and relentless perseverance of its administrator and a band of tireless volunteers; many of whom have been involved with the historical society for decades. They invite everyone to join them. Helping hands are always needed for the many events and projects that an operation of this size requires to survive.  

     The Historic Village and Museum opens its season with school tours during May. The regular season begins Memorial Day Weekend. The museum complex hosts numerous special events during the open season and year round. Whether it’s a Victorian dinner, the Halloween Spook Walk, old-fashioned toys and penny candy from the General Store, or the shutterbug delights that one can find in every nook and cranny of the museum grounds, there is something for visitors of every age at the Sanilac County Historic Village and Museum.

     In 1847, a white clapboard schoolhouse was built on the Huckins family property near the southeast corner of Peck and Wildcat Roads in Lexington Township, Sanilac County.  The school housed eight grades of students in its one busy room for 100 years.  For many years the building also doubled as a church on Sundays.  At times the building was covered in brick and in 1905 a bell tower was added.  It was finally closed and shuttered in 1948.

     When the old schoolhouse couldn’t be repurposed for the Cros-Lex school system, it was sold to the Sanilac County Historical Society for one dollar.  Volunteer Rev. Paul Slivka spearheaded a fundraising drive to move the school to the museum grounds.  It was relocated in 1996.  Volunteer Don McGregor managed the restoration of the building.  The Huckins Schoolhouse was rededicated in 2002 with several of the school’s final students on hand.  It remains the oldest standing school in Sanilac County.

     The schoolhouse is furnished with typical school furnishings of the 1880’s, including a pot-bellied stove.  Every year, hundreds of Sanilac County grade school children are now able to experience what it was like to learn one’s lessons in a one-room schoolhouse.  The Huckins Schoolhouse is also available for rent for all manner of meetings, parties, and gatherings.

Bournedale Village School, Bourne, MA

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Bournedale Village School

29 Herring Pond Rd.

Bourne, MA 02532

The Bournedale Village School is a historical landmark school building at 29 Herring Pond Road in Bourne, Massachusetts. Built in 1897, it was the last one-room schoolhouse built by the town, and is one of the few surviving 19th-century schoolhouses in all of Barnstable County. The Bournedale Village School is located the central northern part of Bourne, on the north side of the Cape Cod Canal. It occupies a lot on the south side of a concurrence of Herring Pond and Bournedale Roads. It is a single-story wood frame structure, with a hip roof pierced on each side by a steeply pitched gable, and topped by an octagonal belfry. Its exterior is an eclectic finish of wood shingles, clapboards, and tongue-in-groove beaded boarding. Its main entry is sheltered by a shed-roof overhang supported by decoratively carved brackets. The interior has a pair of vestibules, which lead into the single classroom space, and have stairs descending to an unfinished basement. Although the vestibule floors have been covered in linoleum, the main room retains its original pine floors and painted plaster walls.

     The school was built in 1897 on the site of a previous one-room schoolhouse destroyed by fire. It served the town as a school until 1925, when ongoing consolidation of district schools prompted the school’s remaining students to be transferred to a graded school in Sagamore.  The school was listed with the National Register of Historic Places on February 27, 2013. The building continues to be owned by the town, but has been maintained and used by the Bournedale Civic Association since 1925 as a meeting space.

Cataumet Schoolhouse, Bourne, MA

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Cataumet Schoolhouse

1200 County Road

Bourne, Massachusetts

The Cataumet Schoolhouse is a historic school building at 1200 County Road in Bourne, Massachusetts. Built in 1894, it served the town as a schoolhouse until 1934, and then as a community center until 1960. It is a well-preserved example of a 19th-century one-room schoolhouse, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2019.

     The town of Bourne was incorporated out of Sandwich in 1884. The new town built schoolhouses throughout its villages in the following years, with this schoolhouse, built in 1894, the second-last to be built. It was built by James West, a nearby resident, for $1,200, on the site of an older schoolhouse erected by the town of Sandwich in 1864. In the first quarter of the 20th century, the town began consolidating its district schools, and this one was closed in 1930. Most of its district schools were sold or repurposed; the Cataumet Schoolhouse and the Bournedale Village School are the only schoolhouses still owned by the town.

     The Cataumet School is set on the west side of County Road in Bourne’s southern Cataumet neighborhood. It is set near the back of a .75-acre lot on the west side of the road, between Depot Road and Swan Circle. It is a single-story wood frame structure, with a gabled roof and wooden shingled exterior. The building corners have Greek Revival pilasters, with an entablature extending along the sides. The front facade has a pair of symmetrically placed entrances, each sheltered by a shed-roof hood supported by Victorian brackets. A single window occupies the gable end above the entrances. A small belfry rises above the roof, with square corner posts supporting a short spire. The interior of the building retains its original form, with a pair of entry vestibules (one each for boys and girls), and a large classroom with original chalkboards, desks, and finishes.

Brookeville Academy, Brookeville, MD

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Brookeville Academy

5 High St.

Brookeville, MD 20833

Brookeville, Maryland, is a town located twenty miles north of Washington, D.C., and two miles north of Olney in northeastern Montgomery County, Maryland. The Town’s centerpiece and community focal point in Brookeville, MD, is the award-winning Brookeville Academy (circa 1810), located at 5 High St, in the heart of the Brookeville Historic District, which served as the “Capital for a Day” in 1814 when President Madison had to flee the White House during the British Invasion of the War of 1812.  The academy was built in 1810 as one of the first private academies in Montgomery County.

     The institution of the Brookville Academy was established in 1808 and was chartered in 1815. Construction for the building began in 1810. The second story of the structure was added in 1840 when the board of trustees decided to expand the school. It was completed in 1858.  The school offered a full classical curriculum initially for some sixty male students (later females were allowed). Many of the students came from across the state and boarded with local families. Its library consisted of 600 volumes. Among those educated at the academy, include Dr. Henry Howard, who established Howard County, and William Edward Magruder, great-grandson of Colonel Zadok Magruder. In 1869, the Brookeville Academy relocated to Merrywood, located on nearby farmland outside of town.

     When the school itself moved just outside town to larger quarters in 1869, the building the building had many uses.  It became a meeting place for the Mutual Fire Insurance Company (today is known as the Montgomery Mutual Insurance Companies).  In the 1870s, the building served as the Odd Fellows Lodge Hall, and later in the mid 1900s, it served as the American Legion Hall and also housed functions of Saint John’s Church. The American Legion’s Norman Price Post 68 was a lessee and caretaker of the building from 1949 to 1996.

     The Town of Brookeville purchased the building in 1989 from St. John’s Episcopal Church, its owner since 1909, due to its historical significance for the purpose of historic restoration/preservation and adaptive-reuse as a community center. The town began to renovate it for wider public use.  The restoration process was completed in 1997. Now fully restored, the Brookeville Academy today provides a vibrant and unique community center which hosts private functions including meetings, social, and cultural events, seminars, dinners, parties and weddings, and also provides the Town of Brookeville with office and archives space.

Brookeville Schoolhouse, Brookeville, MD

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Brookeville Schoolhouse

10 North Street

Brookeville MD 20833

The historic Brookville Schoolhouse building dates to the early 1830s and was purchased by Montgomery County Public Schools for $300 in 1865, four years after the Maryland General Assembly established the Montgomery County public school system with free public schools for white students. Montgomery County Public Schools purchased the building from the Trustees of the Methodist-Episcopal Church that was located on what is now North Street. At some subsequent point, the school began operation as a traditional one-room schoolhouse, a large room with two sizable windows on each side and an entry vestibule. An out-house originally was located next to the structure.

     One of the school’s early teachers was William H. Briggs, the son of Isaac Briggs, a famous land surveyor and prominent Brookeville resident.  The Brookeville Schoolhouse, which barred African Americans from attendance, is a classic example of the first one-room public school and was in continuous use until the 1920’s when it was replaced by a new, larger school.   After that, the building was sold in 1926, used as a private residence, and eventually abandoned for several decades, beginning a long period of deterioration.  The Brookeville Town Commissioners, concerned with the building’s neglect and desiring to see it preserved and restored, initiated discussions with its new owner Dr. Howell J. Howard, Jr., whose parents were African American educators who taught in Washington, D.C., and Montgomery County, and his attorney. Staff from the Maryland- National Capital Parks and Planning Commission assisted in these discussions. Dr. Howard decided to donate the building to the Town but unfortunately died before his intention could be implemented.

     The Town of Brookeville acquired the property from the estate of Dr. Howard when heirs to the Howard estate generously deeded the schoolhouse to the Town in 1997. In accordance with Dr. Howard’s wishes and those of his heirs, the donation of the schoolhouse to the Town and its restoration is to honor the memory of his parents, Howell J. Howard Sr. and Consuelo Jones Howard and the entire Howard family’s dedication to the improvement, education, and well being of African American children in Montgomery County and Washington D. C.  In 1997, the Town of Brookeville received a $1,000 grant from the Montgomery County Historic Preservation Commission to develop a restoration plan for the building.

     In 2001, a small Save the Brookeville Schoolhouse Committee (SBSC) was formed to manage the project and ultimately develop recommendations for how the restored schoolhouse will be used. The SBSC organized and held a very successful and energetic “volunteer day” in November 2001 to clean out the interior of the building, do site clearing, excavate around the foundation, and meet other volunteers. Volunteers came from not only within the town but also from all over the greater Olney, Sandy Spring, Brookeville area.  In 2003, The Town applied and was awarded a grant from the Maryland Project Open Space Program for $17,000 for the restoration project. At the same time, the Town had budgeted a total of $27,000 in capital funds toward the project in the 2003-2004 budget.

     The rehabilitation was completed in 2004 with some work stretching into 2005. In 2004, the restored Brookeville Schoolhouse won a Montgomery County award for historic preservation.  Miche Booz, AIA, a town resident, provided pro bono architectural services for the rehabilitation.  He was awarded the Outstanding Architect Award for 2004 by Montgomery Preservation, Inc.  This historic preservation and restoration project has been made possible by the Town of Brookeville with the assistance of the State of Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources and Program Open Space, the Montgomery County Historic Preservation Commission’s grants program, and private donations. Many volunteers have also contributed their time, talents and labor to the project.

     The schoolhouse is now functioning as a one-room schoolhouse museum and is open each year for Heritage Days as well as other special occasions. Heritage Montgomery and the Town of Brookeville have partnered together to designing and implementing a program focused on the early 1800s history of the Town’s Quakers, especially as it relates to slavery, the anti-slavery movement, and the free black population. The program will form an integral part of a more significant effort involving Woodlawn’s (stone barn) Visitor Center and Oakley Cabin, primarily geared to educating school groups.

Blumenhof Mennonite Private School, Mennonite Heritage Village, Steinbach, MB (Canada)

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Blumenhof Mennonite Private School

Mennonite Heritage Village

231 Provincial Trunk Hwy 12

Steinbach, MB R5G 1T8, Canada

     The Blumenhof Mennonite Private School was built in the village of Blumenhof, near Altona, Manitoba, in 1881-1885, and used until 1924.  It was later moved to the Mennonite Village Museum at the Mennonite Heritage Village, Highway 12, in Steinbach, Manitoba.  Established in 1967 by the Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society in collaboration with the Town of Steinbach and the Rural Municipality of Hanover, on a 40-acre site north of Steinbach, this facility was known originally as the Mennonite Village Museum. It was renamed the Mennonite Heritage Village in 1987. Open year-round as one of Manitoba’s Signature Museums, it tells the story of Mennonite faith and culture through the centuries, from the 16th century to the present day.

     The site contains many restored historic buildings, including a Semlin (sod house), two housebarns, Mennonite church, general store, print shop, blacksmith shop, Mennonite Private School, and Barkfield School No. 1951. It features Canada’s only operational windmill, a 2001 reconstruction of one built in 1877. Also on the grounds is a monument bearing several commemorative plaques as well as a plaque erected by the Historic Sites Advisory Board of Manitoba in commemoration of the Mennonite East Reserve.

     The Waldheim Mennonite House-Barn is the oldest heritage building at the museum. It was built around 1876 by Julius Dyck in the village of Waldheim, three miles south of Morden. The house was dismantled a few years later and moved to a new location outside the village. In the early 1960s it was moved to Mennonite Heritage Village. Restoration was done with funding from the Canada 150 Community Infrastructure Program.

     The Chortitz Mennonite House-Barn was built in 1892 by Jacob and Justina Teichroeb in the village of Chortitz South of Winkler. It was moved to the Steinbach Mennonite Heritage Village Museum.  Hochfeld House, is one of the earliest log dwellings built in the Mennonite village of Hochfeld, circa 1877, by Johann and Katharina Wiebe. It was modified many times and remained occupied until 1985.  Chortitz Old Colony Mennonite Church Community members provided logs to build their worship house in the village of Chortitz in 1881. It was used for regular services until 1967 when it was moved to the museum grounds.  The Lichtenauer Church, built in 1929-1930 originally was located in Ste. Elizabeth. The Church closed its in 1989 and in 1994 the building was moved to MHV.

Barkfield School Building (No. 1951), Mennonite Heritage Village, Steinbach, MB, Canada

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Barkfield School building (No. 1951)

Mennonite Heritage Village

231 Provincial Trunk Hwy 12

Steinbach, MB R5G 1T8, Canada

Mennonite Heritage Village is a museum in Steinbach, Manitoba, Canada, telling the story of the Russian Mennonites in Canada. The museum contains both an open-air museum open seasonally, and indoor galleries open year-round. Opened in 1967 and expanded significantly since then, the Mennonite Heritage Village is a major tourist attraction in the area and officially designated as a Manitoba Signature Museum and Star Attraction. Approximately 47,000 visitors visit the museum each year.

     The impetus for the museum began in the early 1960s after the destruction of a number of historic buildings in the area. Retired teacher John C. Reimer began to collect artifacts and established the Reimer Store museum on Main Street in Steinbach, a building that was later moved to the current museum. A committee was established in 1964 and the museum, originally called Mennonite Village Museum was opened to the public in 1967. The museum changed its name to Mennonite Heritage Village in 1987. A major expansion of the indoor galleries was completed in 1990.

     The village features a large collection of original Mennonite architecture, including housebarns, churches, schools, stores, a sod hut (or semlin) and other buildings, some of which date back to the 1800s. Including the village and indoor galleries, the museum’s collection contains more than 16,000 artifacts. The indoor facility documents the history of Mennonites from their origins in the Netherlands and Switzerland and focuses on the Plautdietsch-speaking Russian Mennonites who came to Western Canada. The permanent collection includes images, videos, and numerous historic artifacts, including those connected to Klaas Reimer and other important Anabaptist figures. Temporary exhibits, also open year-round, are held in the Gerhard Enns Gallery. The museum collection also includes antique tractor and transportation buildings.

    The Barkfield School District was established in February 1919 and a school building was erected later that year on the southwest quarter of 21-4-6E in the Rural Municipality of Hanover, near the village of Pansy. Most of the first students were of Ukrainian or Mennonite descent. In 1968, the school closed when it was absorbed into the Hanover School Division. Students in grades 1 to 6 went to Lister East School while those in grades 7 and 8 went to Grunthal. The building was later moved to the Mennonite Heritage Village Museum where it was restored to its appearance when in use as a school. A commemorative sign was erected in 2005-2006 by the Bohdan “Bob” Osadchuk (1939-2006) and the District School Heritage Association.

Old Surry Village Schoolhouse, Surry, ME

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Old Surry Village Schoolhouse

7 Toddy Pond Rd.

Surry, ME 04684

     The Surry Village School has served the community of Surry, Maine, in a variety of capacities since the two-story Greek Revival and Italianate schoolhouse opened its doors on 1872.  The building, considered modern for its day, was built by Jesse M. Ray for the handsome sum of $2000. The schoolhouse educated Surry students for 80 years. The school served as both the primary and high school, until 1926 when it was decided that Surry would send its high school students to nearby Ellsworth. After years of increasingly expensive maintenance problems and a desire for more modern amenities, the school closed its doors in the spring of 1952. The following year the Surry Volunteer Fire Department took the property over and it was then re-purposed as the town’s fire house for 30 years until it was replaced by a new fire house in 1987.

     During its tenure as a firehouse, substantial changes were made: a cement floor replaced the maple flooring on the first floor and two large doors were installed to accommodate the fire trucks.  The front stairway to the second floor was moved to the west side of the building. The fire department added a kitchenette on the second floor and two bathrooms and a furnace room on the first floor.  The building was next transferred to the Surry Woman’s Auxiliary. This group returned the front of the building to its 19th century look, with one large room on the first floor and one large room on the second floor. The Auxiliary used the building as a meetinghouse until the Auxiliary disbanded in 2014 and the building was returned to the Town of Surry.

     In 2015 the town officials pursued different options for the schoolhouse, including demolition and, amidst mounting concern over this potential outcome, the school was added to Maine Preservation’s list of Most Endangered Historic Places.  The community galvanized to save this important local place and the Old Surry Village Schoolhouse Preservation Group was formed to help save the building. The town rallied to the cause and at a special town meeting in 2016 the town voted officially to form the Old Surry School Rehabilitation Project and to grant permission to the Old Surry Village School Preservation Group to rehabilitate the town owned Old Village School.  At no cost to the taxpayers, the group would return the schoolhouse to its 19th century appearance, with the idea being to preserve the building and have it once more available for use by the residents of Surry. The team’s goal was to identify, protect, repair, and replace the necessary areas of the building while accommodating the necessary changes that would make the building compliant with 21st century life safety and ADA requirements. 

     The building is in remarkable condition for its age and has played an integral part in Surry’s history.  The Maine Historic Preservation Commission advised the Preservation Group to identify and correct the alterations to the building so that it conforms to its nineteenth century appearance.  The rehab project included “Life Safety Code and ADA Compatibility” standards necessary for a public building.  Another goal of the project was to purchase the property adjacent to the Old School which will be transformed into a park/playground completing the historic landmark to be enjoyed by Surry residents for generations to come.  The project was funded by private donations and available grants for community and historic preservation projects.  The Old Surry Village Schoolhouse Preservation Group is a non profit 501-c(3).

     The restoration efforts were meticulously executed by a group of dedicated volunteers who both tirelessly raised the substantial funds to pay for the materials and professional teams as well as providing countless hours of labor to bring the old schoolhouse back to life. The structure was found, to the delight of all, to be structurally intact so the largest part of the restoration effort was restoring the interior of the building. The work included installing a new subfloor and 2-inch maple flooring over the firehouse concrete floor to match the second floor and the stairway was returned to the front of the building.  New 200-amp electricity was installed throughout the building and schoolhouse lights were returned to both floors. Traditional bead board and wainscoting sheathing as well as windows and trim were installed and painted on the first floor to match the second-floor features. 

     The rehabilitation efforts were coordinated with the Maine Historic Preservation Commission to ensure that all restoration complied with the Secretary of Interior’s Standards.  In June 2019, with the final nail nailed and the last coat of paint dried, the schoolhouse opened to the public as a museum and community meeting space for lectures and events. The Maine Historic Preservation Commission has indicated that the property is eligible for listing in the National Register. With the love and labor of the volunteers with the Old Surry Village Preservation Group, the structure has been saved. 

Whiteville Schoolhouse (c. 1911), Le Vieux Village Heritage Park, Opelousas, LA

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Whiteville Schoolhouse, c. 1911

Le Vieux Village Heritage Park

828 E. Landry St.

Opelousas, LA 70570

     One of Louisiana’s oldest cities, Opelousas is a cultural gumbo, with a long history of ethnic diversity.  Hundreds of years ago, Native Americans inhabited the area. The city takes its name from the Opelousa Indians, a small band of the historic Attakapa Tribe.   French and Spanish governments both governed the area at one time.  French settlers began arriving in the early 1700s. Many brought enslaved Africans slaves with them. German colonists soon made their way here and Spanish settlers arrived in the 1770s.  In the late part of the 18th century, Irish, Italian, Scottish and other immigrants settled here.  Beginning in 1765, one of the most influential cultural groups arrived in the Opelousas area. The French-speaking Acadians were exiled from Canada by the British. Equally important to these diverse populations were the Créoles (derived from the Spanish word “criollo” — a child born in the colony). In early word usage, Créoles were the descendants of the early French and Spanish colonists of Louisiana.

     French for “the old village,” Le Vieux Village Heritage Park is a collection of exhibits, museums, and the town’s oldest structures that features historic buildings from Opelousas and surrounding areas of St. Landry Parish.  While Le Vieux Village was established in 1988 by the Opelousas Tourism and Activities Committee, the buildings range in date from the late-1700s to the mid-1900s. They represent history, culture and architecture that are authentic to Opelousas.  From a rare, Creole-style home once owned by Marie Francois Venus, an enslaved person, to an early medical doctor’s office, to a general store, and a former train depot which houses the Louisiana Orphan Train Museum, a facility dedicated to documenting and researching the lives of the orphan train riders, the village offers a glimpse into Opelousas’ historic past.  Many of its components were donated by families from the area.  The collection    includes an old schoolhouse, a Methodist church, and the City of Opelousas Tourist Information Center and Gift Shop. It is located at the eastern entrance to Opelousas along U.S. Highway 190. The center houses the Jim Bowie Display and the Zydeco Music Exhibit. Jim Bowie, an American hero of the Alamo, once lived in Opelousas. Tours are given Tuesday through Friday on the hour from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and by appointment. Self-guided tours are also available

     One of the few buildings of its kind in Louisiana, the schoolhouse was originally built in the small community of Whiteville, just northeast of Opelousas.  Featuring two rooms, it was common “in the early days” to have multiple grades taught in each room.  It was built at a time when mule-drawn carriages were used to transport students to school and lunch was typically eaten outside, picnic style, under a tree.  A wood-burning stove provided warmth for students during the winter and parents often supplied the wood for the stove. In the early days teachers were required to live in the community where they taught school and it was no exception for Ms. Jeanette Doucet, who was the last teacher for the schoolhouse.  When she began teaching in 1927, paper, pencils and books for students were not free.  A teacher’s salary was $85 per month and women were allowed to teach as long as they were single. The school, an example of Greek Revival architecture, closed during the 1950s. It was donated by Cleveland McCauley of Whiteville and moved to Le Vieux Village in 1991, with the assistance of the Kiwanis Club of Opelousas.

Brush (or Brushy) Mountain School House, Hensley Settlement, Miracle, KY

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Brush (or Brushy) Mountain School House

Hensley Settlement

Hensley Settlement Bypass Rd.

Miracle, KY 40856

Hensley Settlement is an Appalachian living history museum on Brush Mountain, Bell County, Kentucky. The settlement is part of the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park and it is located approximately 10 miles north of the park visitor center on Ridge Trail.  It is a preserved and rebuilt duplication of the original settlement that stood on the location.  The settlement contains twelve homestead log cabins, a one-room school house, and a blacksmith shop. A restored spring house on the property was used by the settlement as food storage. The settlement dates back to 1845 when Governor William Owsley deeded 500 acres on top of Brush Mountain in the Appalachian Mountains. Brothers C. and R.M. Bales, who received the land from Owsley, leased the acreage to John Nichols and Jim Nelson, who mostly used the property for livestock. They cleared the property and made some improvements, including the construction of shake-roofed chestnut log cabins.

     In 1903, Burton Hensley Sr. purchased the entire acreage and divided it into sixteen individual properties for his extended family including 21 acres to his daughter Nicey.  The settlement began in 1903 when brothers-in-law Sherman Hensley and Willy Gibbons settled their families on plots from the acreage purchased by Barton Hensely Sr. Most of the inhabitants of the settlement were named either Hensley or Gibbons, belonging to either the Hensley or Gibbons families. The settlement never developed modern infrastructure or technology. Hog farmer Sherman Hensley and his wife Nicey Ann, Barton Sr.’s daughter, moved into an existing log cabin on her allotted twenty-one acres. The couple purchased an additional thirty-three acres. The following year, Nicey’s niece Nancy and her husband Willy Gibbons also moved to the self-sustaining settlement. Over 40 years, these families were like many other families in Appalachia. They farmed, raised animals, and traded with others in the area. Like many families, they went to church, their children went to school, and they played a variety of games and activities.  As improvements came to Appalachia, the Hensley Settlement remained isolated with no modern roads ever reaching the community.

     The settlement never had electricity, indoor plumbing, or other conveniences.  Everything was grown, raised and hand-made in the settlement. People traveled by foot or by riding a horse. The spring house was used for food storage. In 1908, Bell County provided a teacher for the newly erected one-room school house. Originally the school house was little more than a lean-to, erected so the Bell County Superintendent of Schools would agree to send a teacher for the settlement children. There were two schools constructed in the Hensley Settlement proper. The first school, according to Sherman Hensley, was “a log school house,” “logs and daub, clay-mud,” with a puncheon floor and about “18 x 22 or maybe a little more than that” in size. The old school was ultimately torn down and re-sited about fifty yards from the first school and built with improved materials supplied by the county. Two outhouses, one for girls and one for boys, were constructed some distance apart from each other near the woods. The school term ran from July until January but stayed closed through the winter, when travel was more difficult for teachers and students, and through the spring and early summer when fields had to be prepared and planting done.

     The school taught students up through the 8th grade.. The population peaked at about 100 in 1925. During World War II residents moved away to either join the military or to work in the coal mines. Nicey Ann Hensley died in 1937. By the time the school closed in 1947, four different structures had served as the Brush Mountain school. The final structure was a log cabin that was heated by a wood and coal stove made of cast iron and located in the middle of the room. The school had no indoor plumbing or electricity. The student desks were made of wood and cast iron.  Students usually went home for dinner [lunch], but sometimes brought food. Jess Gibbons recalls “the farthest ones off’d bring their lunch with ’em, and us kids’d always go back home for our lunch, or sometimes we’d bring it. If my mother was going to be busy at work with something or other, we took our lunch with us.”

     Because the school house was the only space in the community where neighbors and visitors could gather outside of homes, for school functions, church, funerals, and Decoration Day activities, it figured prominently in the minds and memories of residents of the settlement.  The population dwindled until 1949, when Sherman Hensley was the only resident.   The last resident was Sherman Hensley, who left in 1951. When the Hensley finally abandoned the property in 1951, the settlement fell into disrepair. The settlement was dedicated as part of the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park on July 4, 1959. The school, together with some forty-five settlement structures and the agricultural environment, were restored to their original state in the 1960s by the Job Corps. The National Park Service and the Job Corps began making improvements in 1965, restoring some forty-five settlement structures and the agricultural environment to the prime time of the community. The National Park Service runs the Appalachian Hensley Settlement as a living history museum. Park Rangers conduct tours of the forty-five settlement structures and agricultural resources May through October.