The Granville Beach Schoolhouse

            When I was a child I loved to explore the old schoolhouse which was used as a machine shed on my grandparent's farm. The front of the one-room schoolhouse had long been removed, as had the desks and wood-stove, but I still liked to envision what it would have looked like all those years ago. The schoolhouse has a long connection with my family, some of which I had known at the time, and some I have learned over the years. My great grandfather and his siblings attended school there, as had his father, and maybe grandfather, before him. That was also the schoolhouse in which my great great grandmother taught in and probably where she came in contact with her future husband. My great grandfather used to tell stories of his mischief making, like when he and his friend climbed up into the attic before school and "skipped class" there. There were stories of students swearing when the School Superintendent came to inspect the school, and the most exciting of all, when one student put matches in a bullet shell and put it in the wood-stove! Poor Miss Agnes Mills had quite the scare while she was warming her hands over the stove. When standing in the schoolhouse you could almost hear the voices and lessons from the past, and if you were quiet enough, hear the Christmas pageants and smell the kerosene lamps like Aunt Libby so beautifully described in her Christmas memories. So you can imagine why I liked to haunt it as a child.

            The schoolhouse itself dates well before the days of my great grandfather. Originally, the schoolhouse was located up the road from its current resting place on Granvalley Farm. The A. F. Church map of Annapolis County (published in the late 1860s) shows the schoolhouse before it was moved. On the map it is shown being located between the homes of R. Murphy and J. Bath which checks out when compared with stories of older residents. On the 2nd of May 1872, William Edwin Armstrong, who was a school trustee, wrote in his journal that he, "...went down and helped to haul the school house in afternoon." The schoolhouse was moved to rest between the homes of Mrs. Caroline Augusta Clark and Mr. Thomas Sproul. The land that the schoolhouse was moved to was excepted from the Clark property and was situated on the east end close to the Sproul Orchard. William also mentioned going to the schoolhouse for a meeting and then the hiring of a teacher in 1871. 

          There are two schools mentioned in the 1841 estate inventory of Richard Halfyard. Listed in his estate were, "1 Right in the Schoolhouse at Johnsons’", and, "3 Shares in Schoolhouse near Mr. John Hall’s." There was a schoolhouse in Granville Ferry that was located near the home of John Johnson, so perhaps that is the first one mentioned, but whether the second schoolhouse is the Granville Beach Schoolhouse is uncertain. However, the Modified Greek Revival architecture style of the schoolhouse could also point to a date of construction in the first half of the 1800s.

            The schoolhouse was used throughout the 1800s, enabling students a good education up to a certain grade. If one wished to further their studies they could attend one of the academies in nearby Annapolis Royal. My great great grandfather, Hugh Armstrong, and his siblings attended that school in the 1880s and 1890s. Out of his family, his older brother, Professor Alfred Armstrong, went on to Acadia University, Columbia University, and finally New York Law School; his younger sister, Mary (Armstrong) Thorne attended Acadia University, and was a teacher. Hugh himself, graduated from the Annapolis Royal Academy, and was a farmer and justice of the peace, and involved in municipal government for many years. The Granville Beach Schoolhouse sent forth many local people to long careers throughout the world.

            The Schoolhouse was used up until around the 1940s, after which children from the Granville Beach area were bussed to school in Annapolis Royal. The building was vacant after teaching ceased until my great grandfather purchased it in the 1960s. He had bought the Clark farm in 1939, and was the first the use the schoolhouse as a machine shed. It is still used as such today, but its age has caught up to it. It had to have a new foundation and cement floors put in in the last twenty years, meaning much of the inside walls had to be peeled back at the bottom. Once interesting feature of the building that has faced the test of time is a hanging chimney. An unusual architectural feature, the hanging chimney allowed for more room in the schoolhouse that would have been taken up by a normal chimney. One other hanging chimney known of in the area in located in the tavern at the O'Dell House Museum in Annapolis Royal.

            Throughout the years the community buildings that once graced the road in Granville Beach have long since disappeared, but the old Granville Beach Baptist Church circa 1833, and the Granville Beach Schoolhouse are two building that are a testament to the community of Granville Beach and the many families that have called it home.

Children in front of the Granville Beach Schoolhouse, early 1900s.

Granville Beach Schoolhouse in the 1940s.

The washrooms of the schoolhouse were located outside on the back wall, one for boys and one for girls. If you look on the shingles today, you can see graffiti from the children. 

These photos were taken in 2014.