The time: Late 1950's
The place: Near Rice Lake, Wisconsin
I've mentioned my grandfather's one-room schoolhouse many time, and here it is!
As you can see it wasn't one of those small schoolhouses, it was quite large. It was large enough to allow conversion into an interesting two-bedroom retirement home. The bedrooms were smaller but there was a large living room with a desk where my grandfather worked on his stamp collection and wrote in his journal. There was a kitchen, a bathroom and a minnow tank in the basement. Grandpa Louie was a big fisherman.
I notice that the windows were altered and reduced in size. Perhaps in this era of loft rehabilitation the high ceilings and very large windows would have been preserved.
And for the endless enjoyment of the grandchildren there was a bell in the tower. We'd be allowed to pull the rope and pretend we were calling the children in from the school yard.
My sister and I are going to attempt a road trip in the fall in an attempt to find the schoolhouse and visit the cheese curd capital of WIsconsin.
Exciting stuff!
For those sleuths among you (Heidi, The Milk Man's Wife), the plaque over the door said Pine Hill School and it's somewhere in the vicinity of Rice Lake/Cumberland.
7 comments:
Did you get your writing talent from Grandpa Louie?
Well - I have good news... I have almost got the address of the shcool - do I hear your hands clapping?!?! LOL It would be helpful to have your granddaddys name, if you want to mail it to me. Then I can look it up at the registar of deeds, that is if the lead I have now does not work.. LOL
Old schoolhouses are wonderful landmarks, aren't they? We have a few in Michigan, much smaller, and it's good to see that most are lovingly preserved. I hope you find your school.
Molly - I don't think so. Curiously my grandfather's journal is very sparse. He lists the high and low temperatures, a short description of the day's activity, but nothing that would give you a sense of who he wah.
Heidi - WOO HOO. I knew you would come through. Please e-mail me because I can't find your e-mail address in my growing pile. I seriously need to get organized.
Cindy - They are indeed. Most of the old schoolhouses around here were wooden structures which did not fare well over time.
Your grandfather's journal may not be very personal but still I envy you for having it. What I wouldn't give to have a handwritten record of the life of any of my great-grandparents, for instance.
What I do have, since my great-aunt passed away two years ago, is a scrapbook that my great-grandmother kept. She would cut out the pictures on cards and glue them in, and she did the same with songs and poems from the newspapers of the day.
But nary a handwritten word.
And now, who is going to be interested in my 35 years worth of journals, I wonder. They take up a lot of space ... but perhaps some great-granddaughter I will never meet ... will treasure them as I would if such things were handed down to me. Even the scrapbook ...
I'm sure you'll find it. Rice Lake and Cumberland are not that large. I lived south of there in Eau Claire for 20 years. Make sure the cheese curds are very fresh. Then they squeek on your teeth when you bite into them. YUM!
I've often thought converting an old school house would be great fun. Think of the wonderful memories locked up in there! blessings, marlene
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