Fall 2008 Reunion - North Wayne Schoolhouse

Yesterday over 30 people gathered together to renew acquaintances and share memories of their schooldays at the North Wayne School. Bob McLaughlin and Mary Farnham keyed off and many others joined in with their stories. Chair Linda McKee looked ahead to next year's program. Recreating the community pleasures of the past is its theme, with a box social, spelling bee and croquet tournament on the roster. Proceeds from such annual events will underwrite the recurring costs of keeping the building functioning. She described plans for area schoolchildren to come to the one-room schoolhouse for day-long immersion experiences in its different style of learning. She reviewed the preservation work done to date, looking ahead to the goals that remain. The restoration of the stage curtain and a new belfry will bring the project of preservation to a close. Fundraising for those will begin soon, mostly by mail.

Check out some of the video clips from the reunion!

Open Door Days 2008

EXTRA! NEWS FLASH! JUST IN!
FALL 2008 REUNION EVENT
OCTOBER 12 @ 2 PM
AT THE SCHOOLHOUSE
be ready to meet and greet other attendees,
maybe bring some old photos, memories, stories
Questions? CALL BOB McLAUGHLIN (685-4018) or BOB STEPHENSON (685-9325)

1. Theresa Maxim, Bob McLaughlin, Mary Farnham 2. Guest and Ezra Smith 3. Theresa and Asenath Maxim 4. Elaine Leighton


Around one hundred people attended this summer's North Wayne Schoohouse Open Door Days.
Schoolmates greeted old friends.A group of graduates from the fifties and others.

Bob McLaughlin, Ginger and Francis Scott, Priscilla Stevenson



Local residents, both year-round and seasonal, had a chance to see the changes made to the building. Local historian Ed Kallop stands in the schoolhouse door.

The first floor (see pic #s 3 and 4 above) is a recreation of a classroom with vintage school desks.
Trudy Weymouth and Mary Farnham look at old photographs.

The second floor, with the stage curtain back home, will host a variety of events.Graduates revisit the old stage curtain.

Look for a schedule of 2009 Schoolhouse events here and in your mailbox next Spring!

"Stage Curtains Without Borders" Visits North Wayne Schoolhouse

M. J. Davis of Stage Curtains Without Borders, a Vermont organization that specializes in restoring old stage curtains throughout New England, visited the North Wayne Schoolhouse on Friday, July 25 to inspect the "Ben Hur" curtain recently returned to its original second floor home. Pictured at left, l-r, Eric Morrill, Bob McLaughlin, M.J. Davis, Lois Ault. The Committee learned a great deal about the history and conservation of similar painted stage curtains, of which there are quite a few more than we had thought. In fact, on the same trip, M. J. Davis was visiting both Vienna and Gardiner to advise those towns on their curtains.

In order to determine whether the curtain had been painted in oils or in water-based paint, M. J. Davis applied the "sniff" test.

The result? Oil.


The Committee will be considering the VT organization's conservation proposal soon. If accepted, the conservators would travel to North Wayne bringing their specialized restoration equipment and work for three to four days on location in the schoolhouse while boarding with local residents.

The stage curtain that once hung on the second floor of the schoolhouse came home today, thanks to the generosity of Brenda Joseph at Steep Hill Farm, in whose barn it had been stored for many years. Lura Wells and E. L. Crosby created a lasting heirloom for Wayne when they painted a vibrant scene of a Roman charioteer urging on his four horses on cloth for the children who attended the North Wayne school.

Left, Eric Morrill lifts the curtain wrapped on its wooden spindle (which was mounted into the stage opening and turned to raise and drop the curtain) off the roof of the SUV that brought it from the Steep Hill barn to the schoolhouse.




Here, it's carried into the front door of the schoolhouse, where it was laid on a table on the first floor and given a quick admiring "peek" before being taken up to the second floor. The Schoolhouse Committee will meet with The Maine Historical Society and other experts for advice on its restoration and care.



Out the door again to be taken upstairs while the first floor gets its final touches -- a newly cleaned and oiled wood floor and a great collection of old-fashioned school desks for the recreation of a one-room schoolhouse classroom now underway.




Now it's up the exterior fire stairs to the second floor, where awaits a new life in a revived schoolhouse.

Showing up for workday: Here's the crew that turned out to shovel stone into the schoolhouse basement! Tyler Goucher, Greg Goucher, Chris Pettentgill, Adam Donovan
Not shown: Desmond Crosby, Jacob Webbert, Evan Clement

Look At What We've Done!

It's the third year into the project. After a long, cold winter, we've finally been able to resume work on the building. In the upstairs room, the tedious job of repairing the plaster is complete, thanks to Eric Morrill. The room now has a fresh coat of close-to-historically accurate blue

This is the second floor stage now, with the new blue paint showing.

paint mixed to match a chip of the original. The stage is coming along also, and we hope that by the first of July the striking hand-painted curtain painted by local artists E. L. Crosby and Lura Wells can be hung. The second story floor has been cleaned and is ready for a treatment of preservative.

Skip Strong has volunteered to restore the lighting of the room, similar to the lighting in the downstairs classroom. Chase Morrill has also installed the long handicap-access ramp that leads to the back door.

And, at last, a sign for the historic project will go up very soon!

Currently, the downstairs right entry is being renovated to match its original floor plan. The wall that had been removed for the oil furnace that heated the building when the Grange occupied it is being rebuilt. The restoration of the coat closet off the left entry and the hallway will remain unfinished until later in the year.

One of our most successful recent efforts has been the Adopt-A-Desk project. When the school closed in 1962, the school desks were sold. We are now trying to furnish the room with similar antique desks in anticipation of providing an historic classroom for school groups wishing to experience how earlier Wayne students learned. For $50 per desk, participants underwrote the expected costs of the 25 desks plus a teacher's desk. Now the challenge is to locate desks of varying sizes to accommodate a room of mixed ages from kindergarten to eighth grade. If you know of any available desks, contact us. Here are examples of two types of desk that we have found.

Our sincere appreciation to all of you who enthusiastically helped us fund this project!

We have recently acquired two U. S. flags with 48 stars, and are seeking a 1930's globe, framed George Washington and Abraham Lincoln prints, and of course VOLUNTEERS! This summer, volunteers will complete interior painting of the upstairs windows, help with spreading gravel in the cellar, install a swing set donated by the Crosby family, landscape the front yard for playground space, and do other smaller but important tasks. PLEASE LET US KNOW IF YOU CAN HELP! Call Linda McKee at 685-4385 or email her at Plumgoodfarm@aol.com.

The Committee remembers with great appreciation the enthusiastic contributions of Audrey Goucher to the Schoolhouse Project and extends its deepest sympathy to her family. Bob Stephenson, a former CPA, will take over her responsibilities as Treasurer. She is missed.

Our thanks also go to Cathy Cook, who this past year produced an amazing video documentary of interviews with former students at the school (available at the library), to Betsy Bowen for her collection of historical photographs and documents, and especially to the so very many men and women who over the past year have said, "Sure, I can help!"

The Schoolhouse Committee (left to right, photo above: Bob McKee, Mary Farnham, Linda McKee, Betsy Bowen, Lois Ault, Bob Stephenson. Photo credit Bob McLaughlin.)


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Here are a few views of the schoolhouse over the years:




The North Wayne Schoolhouse, 1890's.



The North Wayne Schoolhouse, early 20th Century.

The North Wayne Schoolhouse, Spring 2008