It’s hard to believe, but I’ve taken pictures of around 250 schoolhouses across East-Central Indiana over the past four years. I’m almost certain I’ve covered all of them in Blackford, Delaware, Madison, and Randolph Counties, and most of them in Hamilton, Hancock, Henry, and Jay. That said, it’s been a while since I’ve been out in the field. Now that I’m restarting the project, my next stop is Adams County!
Despite my decision to spend a substantial amount of time cataloguing its schoolhouses, Adams County isn’t a natural fit for my project. It’s two counties away from my own county of Delaware, and I’ve never spent a substantial amount of time there. Still, a couple things make the place appealing to me. The first is that I’ve already taken pictures of one of its schoolhouses.
The school I’ve pictured once served Hartford Township’s District 6. It was built in 1903 when Samuel Oplinger was the trustee. Known as the Brushwood School, it was made famous in Gene Stratton-Porter’s book, A Girl of the Limberlost1. The remains of the Brushwood schoolhouse sit on what’s now known as the Munro Nature Preserve administered by ACRES Land Trust2. I happened across it one day when I crossed the border after taking photos in rural Jay County.
Another thing that makes the schoolhouses of Adams County appealing is that many of them still stand- twenty or twenty five, if memory serves. I spent a few days finding them all on plat maps several years ago, but I didn’t back my file up. As you might expect, the computer it was saved to has now gone the way of the dodo.
One final reason I’m headed to Adams County instead of somewhere closer like Grant or Tipton is that I’ll have the excellent Heritage Room at the Berne Public Library to lean on for my research. I’ve been in sporadic touch with volunteers there for a couple years now, and they’re just as excited for me to start as I am! Their expert assistance should make researching the schools I find a breeze.
It might be a few weeks before we start seeing some of Adams County’s schoolhouses pop up on the blog, but I’m excited to begin exploring these new-to-me old schools. Even after finding two hundred and fifty of them, the thrill of seeing a one-room schoolhouse in person has never abated. Each has a story to tell, and I’m looking forward to sharing them!
Sources Cited
1 Gorney, T. (2015, July 20). Munro Nature Preserve. Friends of the Limberlost. Web. Retrieved October 11, 2024.
2 Fairfield, C. (2021, March 29). Protected land includes schoolhouse sites. ACRES Land Trust [Huntertown]. Web. Retrieved October 11, 2024.
