One room schoolhouse in Vermont
District Six Schoolhouse, Shoreham Vermont
The former District 6 Schoolhouse is a fine example of a rural, vernacular Federal-style institutional building constructed of locally quarried limestone. The building gains additional significance as one of the oldest remaining one-room, public schoolhouses in the state of Vermont.
The schoolhouse's coursed rubble masonry and its use of late Federal style elements identifies it as one of a group of similar limestone schoolhouses built in the surrounding towns of Vermont's Champlain Valley during the 1830s and 40s. Further, while stone construction is relatively uncommon among domestic structures of the area, stone schoolhouses make up a significant proportion of the remaining examples of that building type.
The building remained in use as a public school through the 1940s.
Building Description
The former District 6 Schoolhouse is a small (20' x 25'), one-story, gable-roofed structure with walls constructed of coursed limestone rubble. The gabled roof is covered with wood shingles. The building's front gable elevation contains a door and small window in deep reveals, as well as an arched opening in the gable peak above. A marble block set in the base of this arch bears the inscription: "School Dist. No. 6, 1833." The side elevations each contain two small window openings, now boarded shut. A brick chimney with a corbelled cap breaks the ridgeline at the rear of the roof.
A shed-roofed wooden privy stands adjacent to the schoolhouse.
Repairs have been made to the roof and masonry fabric of the schoolhouse in order to conserve and stabilize the structure.
