The Eight Lots School House

This was an article that was very fun to write because its about my hometown and one of it's most important "landmarks".

-Alycia

The Eight Lots School House is one of the oldest one room school houses still standing in the vast country of the United States.

The Eight Lots School House in Sutton, Massachusetts is one of the most important landmarks in our small town. “My opinion is that its extremely important because its one of the oldest one room school houses that still exists in our country,” said Mrs. (Joanne) Geneva, the Sutton Middle/High School librarian. Even though we are a small town, we still have a great deal of history that goes along with it. We went from being a small “eight miles square” that provided the first English settlers with fertile soil and plenty of water sources to a striving farm town with rich history.

The Eight Lots School House was built in Sutton, Massachusetts (circa) 1785-1790 on land given to the town in 1784. Before this time, children were taught in the privacy of their own homes by parents or neighbors. Classes were in session and available to the students until 1895. Although the school closed for a while, classes started up again in 1911 and went until 1918. After classes were no longer held in the school house, former pupils came together to form the Eight Lots School Association that was meant to maintain the school as a community facility in 1920. On July 2, 1990, the property was unable to be maintained and taken care of, so the land was deeded to the historical society.

This school house is a very important landmark because of its educational value. We can learn so much about what education was like just by researching and visiting this one school house. We could find out what the set up of the classrooms used to look like and what school life was like for the students. “Its important because we can learn a lot about the history of education from places like the Eight Lots School House,” said Mrs. (Joanne) Geneva.

Since, this school house is so extremely important, the community officials have done some great things to maintain the school house’s exterior and interior (as well as make sure it is securing and standing). The school still retains its original exterior appearance because it has not had any major renovations/changes in its entire existence. The first interior changes were made in 1853, but these were very minor. During the fall of 1990, the gable ends were repaired, the roof was re-shingled, and the entire building was painted. It is important to maintain such an important landmark because it is a tribute to our past and a connection to our future improvements of our educational systems.

 

Information Source:

http://www.suttonmass.org/schools/eightlots/