Sitting on a half acre lot on the Ledge Road is a unique piece of local history – the Crocker Hill school house. Overlooking the St. Croix River, it’s one of the only remaining vintage one-room school houses in Charlotte County. Built in the 1880’s, the 980 sq ft building played host to generations of children. Heated by a small barrel stove near the back of the room, teachers would regularly stoke the fire between lessons on cold winter days. The heat being a very welcome luxury, when returning from the outhouse on a cold day! In between spelling and math problems, students would also be responsible for fetching water from the nearby river. The younger students would be given responsibilities according to their size and gender such as cleaning the chalkboard, taking the erasers outside for dusting and other duties.
interior of the Crocker Hill school
As late as 1940, more than half of the Canada’s school children lived in rural areas. About 65% of the country’s school buildings were one-room. Teachers in early one-room schools were usually daughters of nearby farmers who were recent graduates. A teacher’s residence was often attached to the school, or very close by, so that a male teacher’s wife and family could also be an integral part of the management and support system for the school.
Gradually, one-room school houses were replaced. Most one-room schools had been replaced by larger schools by the 1960’s, except in the most rural areas.
Although long closed, the Crocker Hill school still stands as a fascinating window into a vastly different era of child education.
