Where in the ADK? The Essex Eight-Sided School House
Photo by ADK Taste
This week’s “Where in the ADK?” comes from Essex, New York, a picturesque town on Lake Champlain. Chock-a-block full of history, Essex was founded before the American Revolution.
We've all heard stories about the American tradition of one-room schoolhouses. We see it in movies and tv shows, especially those with depictions of American frontiers people trekking across or settling the great plains. But, have you ever been in one?
Essex Township is somewhat unusual in that all but one of its one-room schoolhouses are still in existence. And the most recognized is the Boquet School, located three miles south of the Essex Hamlet on Route 22.
Known as the “Octagonal School,” this eight-sided stone structure is on the National Register of Historic Places. Builders constructed the walls from three feet thick stone with 20 paned windows supplying light. Heat came from a large wood-burning stove, restrooms were outside in outhouses.
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