A Unique Renovation for an Old School

Schoolhouse Guesthouse in Rural Pennsylvania

    

The mission of the Country School Association is clearly the preservation and restoration of the remaining schoolhouses of nearly 219,000 existent at the turn of the 20th century. Many of our members are involved in the restoration and use of schoolhouses for historical interpretation while others study, document, and write about them for their educational and historical significance. Members may have attended one-room schools, taught in them, or simply enjoy photographing them. 

    

Wherever they are, our schoolhouses beckon us to enjoy what others have achieved in maintaining them for posterity. Here is the story of a unique ORS preservation effort for personal use. CSAA contacted a family of schoolhouse enthusiasts in Pennsylvania who have renovated the 1851 Amity Schoolhouse.

Owner Donna Genova has kindly shared her family's personal story below:

Amity School Takes on a New Role

The Genova Family's Story....

Thank you for your interest in featuring an article on our schoolhouse for the CSAA Newsletter. I’m really excited about it. Our school is located in the Hamlet of Amity which is in the Village of Pleasant Valley in Springfield Township, Upper Bucks County, Pennsylvania. We now own three of five structures comprising the small Hamlet of Amity, including a stone house, a large stone barn, and the brick schoolhouse.     

We purchased a 3-acre farm in 2005 which included an almost 200 year old stone farmhouse and bank barn.  Next to the bank barn is the 1851 Amity Schoolhouse which we bought in March of 2008.  One of the main reasons we purchased the schoolhouse was that the property which the schoolhouse is on was originally part of the land that our farmhouse is on. A document regarding our farm’s history, which was performed by the Heritage Conservancy, indicates that in 1851 Levi Kulp (owner at the time) sold 12 and 2/3 perches of land from his 50 acres to the Directors of the Commons Schools of the Township of Springfield for $5.93.  The township then built the Amity School.  We were able to obtain the “original” Deed and have it hanging in the schoolhouse. 

We restored the Amity School in approximately nine months and were pleased to find the original wainscoting on the walls, trim and moldings, the original ceiling, 4 hanging school lights, window framing, and original floors. Unfortunately we don’t have any interior photos when the school was in operation.

The prior owners who bought the school in 1955 installed a kitchen, bathroom, living room and two bedrooms.  They put in a drop ceiling and made the windows smaller. We gutted it and put it back to one large room.  We added a tiny kitchen and bathroom on the level where the teacher’s desk would’ve been (one step up from the main floor) and made bookcases and cabinets in front of them to keep the schoolhouse feel.  The original blackboard wasn’t there so we made one using blackboard paint.  The kitchen cabinets and pocket doors on the kitchen and bathroom are made to look like slate boards with the chalkboard paint in them. The kitchen even has a hidden 2-burner cooktop. We had windows made by a local craftsman, shutters and hardware, put on a new slate roof, new porch, and heating/air-conditioning systems, and a new floor and attic.

A neighbor told us where they had seen the original Amity school bell.  We were able to get it back and put it back in the steeple!  We installed windows in the steeple instead of the louvers so now we can see the bell in the steeple and even have it lit up at night.  We attached a long cord so that you can ring the bell from either the vestibule or the attic.

We primarily use the school as a guest house, making the attic into a bedroom and sitting area.  We  installed a home theater entertainment system as you can see on the main floor.  Besides having the large screen to watch television and movies, we installed WII, Playstation, audio/IPOD dock, and even have Karaoke.  We have three children ages 27, 25 and 23 and they love to come whenever they can and with friends.  They’d rather stay at the schoolhouse instead of the farmhouse because they have their privacy and many a nights stay up late using the home theater entertainment system.  My husband and I wake up early and go to sleep early so having the school is wonderful for all of us.

Other than using the school as a home theater, my husband will bring work home from his office and work from there at the old desk.  We also bought a 1917 Lester Piano which was made in Pennsylvania and had that restored.  The acoustics are wonderful in the school.  My son-in-law is a music teacher and musician and loves to play the piano and saxophone accompanied by my husband on a guitar.

The Springfield Township Historical Society has asked us if they could use our schoolhouse  once in a while for their presentations and we are looking forward to it.  They are also housed in a one-room schoolhouse.

When the school was finally restored, we invited neighbors and told them to bring someone they knew who went to the school to  our “Open House.”  About 60 people came.  There were actually people who went to the school and/or their relatives.  Someone’s grandmother went to the Amity school in 1904 and she even gave us a the Souvenir with the teacher’s photo in it that her family had saved all these years.  
Many people told wonderful stories about when they went to the Amity School.  i.e. – where they sat, where their first boyfriend sat, had their first kiss, where the pot belly stove was, playing games outside, putting coal in the stove, getting water up the hill.  Many of our neighbors have lived here for generations. They were extremely happy we restored the school because so many one room schoolhouses have been torn down or neglected.  There were several tears the night of the Open House.  When everyone left I gave them a brown lunch bag tied with twine to take with them (like a goodie bag).  I had made 60 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (not easy to do with fresh Wonder Bread) and put them in the bags along with an apple, MaryJane candies, caramel candies, a napkin, and a souvenir pencil.  

We tried to keep the school theme throughout.  I even framed our family’s school photos and placed them on the shelves.  It was a lot of work and money involved in restoring it but it was definitely worth it – a labor of love!

I’m glad to share with CSAA newsletter readers.  If you need any information or have any questions, please contact me through the newsletter editor.  Thank you!

  Sincerely,

  Donna A. Genova

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