Sharon, New Hampshire, has a new preservation milestone to point to. The town’s historic one-room Brick Schoolhouse has been listed on the Country Schools Association’s National Registry as a “Landmark,” one of only five school buildings in New Hampshire to earn that designation, and the first in the Monadnock region.
Susan Fineman, a founding member and director of the Country Schools Association of America, unveiled a plaque recognizing the schoolhouse at a Tuesday evening ceremony. She thanked local residents for putting in the work to preserve country schools so visitors can learn a community’s history through the one-room school story.
Built in 1832 for about $300, the Brick Schoolhouse is less than 600 square feet. It is the only surviving building of three one-room schools that once served Sharon. The building also received National and State Registers of Historic Places designation more than 20 years ago.
Fineman said the schoolhouse’s condition sets it apart. The building has not been significantly altered, and it still contains period school desks. Inside the entry foyer, names carved more than a century ago remain visible in original growth planks on the walls.
For mason contractors and restoration crews, that kind of recognition is a reminder that historic masonry work is not only about bricks and mortar. Owners and communities value buildings that keep their original materials and details intact, and project plans need to protect both exterior brickwork and interior finishes that tell the building’s story.
Town officials and residents have kept the schoolhouse in use well into the modern era. Sharon used it for Town Meeting and other events until 2007, and the Select Board still gathers there once a year to mark the town’s history. Sharon children attended the Brick Schoolhouse until 1920, when they began going to school in neighboring Peterborough.
Ben Wilson, director of the New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources, told attendees that small, everyday buildings, including schoolhouses, grist mills, and blacksmith shops, hold records of how the state, and New England, developed.
Read the full, original article from Monadnock Ledger-Transcript (subscription required at source) here.