Getting schooled

Older generations are trying to preserve their history from being lost to time.

Emma Peddle
Kicker

 

During the summer wildfires, Adam’s Cove lost their old one-room schoolhouse. Now other communities are looking to preserve their heritage buildings and the history that comes with it. 

The Mosquito School House in Bristol’s Hope (formally known as Mosquito) was built by its residents somewhere between 1818-1828. 

Richard Johnson, chairman of the Bristol’s Hope Historical Society, feels it’s very important to keep these establishments alive and open to the public.

Johnson’s desire to have something like this old one-room schoolhouse in his community is what made him get involved. 

The Mosquito schoolhouse has had visitors come from as far away as Alberta, Nova Scotia, and Ontario.  

“To showcase what schools were like back in the 1800s, it was important for me,” said Johnson calling the school house a community jewel.

Richard Johnson goes through an old school book. The books were once used to teach children to read. Emma Peddle/KickerJohnson worries the younger generation won’t want to be involved in the preservation of the old schoolhouse. 

The Bristol’s Hope Historical Society is mainly made up of members of an older generation. 

The members are the ones who organize events to raise funds in order to maintain and preserve the old schoolhouse. 

They also organize events such as Santa visits at the schoolhouse during the holiday season. 

“(There are) a lot of these groups around the area – Harbour Grace, Bristol’s Hope, Carbonear,” said Johnson.  

A fear for Johnson is if the younger generation doesn’t take up the challenge of preserving the schoolhouse and lets it decay and be lost to history. 

Most one-room school houses in the province were closed by the the 1970s.

In Harbour Grace, the one-room school house is called Otterbury.

 

Matthew McCarthy, economic development officer with the town of Harbour Grace, thinks heritage buildings such as Otterbury are important because they are reminders of the past – stories, architecture and identity. 

Built in Harbour Grace in the year 1884, the Otterbury school house once served as a schoolhouse for Roman Catholic students from the Riverhead area of Harbour Grace. It now serves as a tourist attraction and place for seniors to meet.  

“I think the seniors use of the building was the right opportunity at the right time,” said McCarthy.

The 50-plus club now uses the old schoolhouse as a place to host tea houses, knitting and sessions to teach seniors about technology.  

“Many of the people in the community who remain interested in its preservation are former students,” said McCarthy.