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Narrated by Milton Frye and Wendy Thompson
Tour Route
Begin and end the Driving Tour at Norwich Historical Society
277 Main Street
Stop 1: The District 1 Brick Schoolhouse
248 Main Street, Norwich
Built in 1846, the school served students who lived in the southern end of the center village until 1888 when the town purchased the old Norwich University barracks and moved village students there. Private residence.
Stop 2: Beaver Meadow Schoolhouse
240 Chapel Hill Road
This District 3 schoolhouse was built in 1922, replacing a schoolhouse that had burned that summer, located across the road. As many as 60 children attended the school when Beaver Meadow was an active farming community with large families. The school closed in 1946. In the early 1970s, neighbors began their successful effort to repair and make the school house a gathering place for the community. Today the Beaver Meadow School House Association, an incorporated nonprofit organization, cares for and coordinates community use of the school house. More about the schoolhouse
Stop 3: Root Schoolhouse
987 Union Village Road
Built in 1937 to replace one that had burned the year before. Like the Beaver Meadow Schoolhouse, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. More about the schoolhouse
Stop 4: Union Village Schoolhouse
93 Academy Road
The Union Village School was truly a union school, once sitting on the town line and financed jointly by Thetford and Union Village residents.
Stop 5: Pompanoosuc Schoolhouse
1408 U.S. Route 5 (private residence)
This schoolhouse was moved to its present location because it was too near the road. The schoolhouse was the last to close in 1951.
Stop 6: Marion Cross School
NHS Parking Lot, 277 Main Street
After a fire destroyed the old Norwich University barracks, a new 4 room village school was built over the foundation in 1898.
Unable to go out on the tour? You can watch it online! Thanks to CATV for going out on the tour!
Credits
Produced by the Norwich Historical Society with support from the Norwich Historic Preservation Commission. Thanks to Lyssa Papazian for her research and preparation of the schoolhouse National Register nominations. Much of the historical information in this podcast is a result of her work. Thanks to Jonathan Frishtick for developing our map and Doug Lufkin for designing the accompanying brochure. Dartmouth Printing Company provided printing of the brochure. Thanks to CATV for the use of their recording studio.
Special thanks to the National Park Service for its contribution through the Certified Local Government Program, administered by the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation.