The building is sadly dilapidated: a patchy, worn shingle roof, weathered wooden elements, boarded-up windows, and a bell tower with no bell. But, for a 100-year old building, the stairs and the exterior walls seem to made of much sterner stuff. I love to drive past this school because I can still get a feeling of school days of 1911. I can still imagine the students, probably all grades together in one room filing up those steps with primers and lunch pails. There is still a sense of place, even from a bygone time, because the schoolhouse is surrounded by farms and livestock pens that have likely remained unchanged for the last 100 years. I can imagine the young boys attending this rural school thinking about milking the cows and feeding the chickens as they walked home from school. The little girls, amongst their idle tittle-tattle, probably hoped mom wouldn't have too many corn husks waiting for them to shuck. I love scenes of rural America; therein are unadulterated scenes from a historic past.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
School Days
If I go the (scenic) back way into the city, I have a lovely drive past organic produce farms, grazing cows, horse pastures, a tree farm, and this old schoolhouse. The sign above the front door reads, Valmont School, District No. 4, 1911.
The building is sadly dilapidated: a patchy, worn shingle roof, weathered wooden elements, boarded-up windows, and a bell tower with no bell. But, for a 100-year old building, the stairs and the exterior walls seem to made of much sterner stuff. I love to drive past this school because I can still get a feeling of school days of 1911. I can still imagine the students, probably all grades together in one room filing up those steps with primers and lunch pails. There is still a sense of place, even from a bygone time, because the schoolhouse is surrounded by farms and livestock pens that have likely remained unchanged for the last 100 years. I can imagine the young boys attending this rural school thinking about milking the cows and feeding the chickens as they walked home from school. The little girls, amongst their idle tittle-tattle, probably hoped mom wouldn't have too many corn husks waiting for them to shuck. I love scenes of rural America; therein are unadulterated scenes from a historic past.
The building is sadly dilapidated: a patchy, worn shingle roof, weathered wooden elements, boarded-up windows, and a bell tower with no bell. But, for a 100-year old building, the stairs and the exterior walls seem to made of much sterner stuff. I love to drive past this school because I can still get a feeling of school days of 1911. I can still imagine the students, probably all grades together in one room filing up those steps with primers and lunch pails. There is still a sense of place, even from a bygone time, because the schoolhouse is surrounded by farms and livestock pens that have likely remained unchanged for the last 100 years. I can imagine the young boys attending this rural school thinking about milking the cows and feeding the chickens as they walked home from school. The little girls, amongst their idle tittle-tattle, probably hoped mom wouldn't have too many corn husks waiting for them to shuck. I love scenes of rural America; therein are unadulterated scenes from a historic past.
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3 comments:
My grandfather went to a school like that. I think he would like to remember it as you envision it rather than the reality.
I always think of Anne of Green Gables.
I love this post. Do you still get to write a fair amount? Your prose is beautiful. I'm glad you blog even if you don't write much otherwise.
I love old buildings, too. They absolutely make me imagine whole little movies in my head ;o)
I miss you, by the way.
Looks like you stopped posting a year ago. It's funny how many abandoned blogs exist out there, relics of the past, much like this school, encapsulating personal experiences for the future (then again it could be that you log in tomorrow and this comment will look very, very overly dramatic)
Anyway thanks for the description of the place, saw a pic of the school, thought it was nice, and this is exactly the kinda thing I was looking for
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