News

Sharing a School of thought
Dry Mills Schoolhouse Committee hosts Raymond-Casco Historical Society
By Elizabeth Prata

Gray--A summit of knowledgeable volunteers convened at the Dry Mills Schoolhouse last Saturday morning to network and discuss proper maintenance of their common assets: the few remaining one-room schoolhouses in their towns.

The Raymond-Casco Historical Society (RCHS) met with the Gray Dry Mills Schoolhouse Committee members to learn how the Gray committee had preserved and maintained their historic structure so well. The Dry Mills School is located on the Wildlife Park Road in refurbished, preserved and pristine condition. The Committee actively promotes their programs and seeks to partner with local schools to help students learn their history and to experience this cultural asset.Below: Elizabeth Bullen of the RCHS and Nancy McMinn of the Dry Mills Schoolhouse Committee listen to Ms. Knapp's presentation. The Monument: Prata photo

The RCHS members took a field trip of their own to hear how the Gray committee had done it. Member Louise Knapp outlined the history of the building, from its opening in1857 to its last year as a school, 1958. After that, the building served as a consignment shop, a nursery school, antique shop "and then the bats took over," said Ms. Knapp, and the building remained empty for many years.

The Committee was formed in 1988 and the members included the formidable Mae Beck. The Committee attributed the preservation and renovation of the building to Ms. Beck's hard work, forward-thinking vision, and "never taking no for an answer." "We owe a lot to Mae Beck," said Norma Liberty, former Schoolhouse pupil. "She had a vision and the commitment."

Soon after its formation in 1988, the Committee established its charge, which was to preserve and protect the school, use it as an educational tool and offer it as a living history museum. The Committee earned a $4,300 school-based innovative grant and several years after that earned another $21,000 that helped the members move the school and begin its reconstruction. Above, Ms. Liberty praising Mrs. Mae Beck for her commitment and vision in initiating the schoolhouse's preservation. The Monument: Prata photo

In 1990, the school was moved less than a mile to its present location, which is a quieter road than Rt. 26 and more conducive to educational programming. The refurbishment began and by 1996 the building was placed on the National Historic Register and dedicated in early 1997.
The interior is whitewashed bright and is comfy with 18 wooden desks, a cast iron stove, and blackboards.

A teachers' desk and a bell graces the front, and on th side is a table with the bucket of water that the boys would haul from the hill in themorning. Atop the stove a pot of soup would have bubbled all day. Even the outhouse is decorated. The school in its heyday hosted children from 6 to 16 and classes were arranged by levels of study, not grade. There were 25 children at once and two teachers. A smaller front room vestibule sufficed for the occasional one-on-one tutoring, but mostly the older kids helped the younger, along with the ongoing lessons that the teachers provided in this "warm and nurturing environment," as Ms. Knapp described it.

Today's reality is that it takes people, money, and time to preserve buildings. The Raymond-Casco Historical Society wants to use their one-room school house to greater a community advantage. "We are very interested in how this schoolhouse was constructed and maintained, and we are here to learn from the Committee today," said RCHS member Elizabeth Bullen. The question is to learn how best to accomplish that, and who better to learn from than a group that's done it.

Ms. Knapp explained that the goal was to reconstruct the Dry Mills school to as close as to the original as possible. The nails are square head nails as they would have been in the 1800s. The 18 desks and inkwells are period appropriate, and the cast iron stove is as close as possible to the original.


Ms. Liberty said that she had attended the school and that three generations had done so. "My mother was the postmaster in the Dry Mills Post Office for 37 years, and that building has been moved next door to the school and is being reconstructed too," she said. The Dry Mills Post office was the smallest post office in the state, said Ms. Knapp.

Today's reality also means liability insurance and structural inspections. The committee is looking into insurance and has asked the Town Council to help them find a structural engineer to inspect the floor to ensure its continuing integrity. "The building is also handicapped accessible, and that's something that should be promoted, so everyone knows that they can come in and enjoy the museum," said Ms. Knapp.

Last, aside from grants, volunteers, and elected officials helping, the committee is always on the lookout for donations. Committee member Nancy McMinn said that the desks and inkwells as well as other accoutrements were donations. Fundraisers also help, they said in answer to Ms. Bullen's question. The committee held a bake sale on a busy day for the Wildlife Park and captured a lot of the passing traffic, "which was very successful," Ms. Knapp said.

The one-room schoolhouse in Casco still has the original desks and other interior appointments, and the "building still smells like a school, and I love that about it," said RCHS member and schoolhouse custodian Anne Miller.

"The only way to be aware of our heritage is to come to a place like this to experience it, to play and to learn, not just to look," Ms. Miller continued. The RCHS said that they liked the idea to have living programs inside the school in addition to the displays. They then invited the Dry Mills School Committee members to visit their school in Casco.

As the meeting broke up amid confirmations of the upcoming reciprocal visit, Ms. Knapp agree to meet with Ms. Liberty to acquire an oral history of her memories of the school house.