The former District 10 School is located just north of

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...

s 28 and 30 south of Margaretville,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It is a stone

one-room schoolhouse One-room schools, or schoolhouses, were commonplace throughout rural portions of various countries, including Prussia, Norway, Sweden, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Spain. In most rural and s ...

built, demolished and rebuilt in the middle of the 19th century. It was the only structure left standing in the large area

condemned Condemned or The Condemned may refer to: Legal * Persons awaiting execution * A condemned property, or condemned building, by a local authority, usually for public health or safety reasons * A condemned property seized by power of eminent domain ...

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when nearby

Pepacton Reservoir The Pepacton Reservoir, also known as the Downsville Reservoir, is a reservoir in Delaware County, New York on the East Branch of the Delaware River in the Catskill Mountains of New York. Part of the New York City water supply system, it was fo ...

was built. Today it serves as a local history museum. In 1998 it and its

privy Privy is an old-fashioned term for an outdoor toilet, often known as an outhouse and by many other names. Privy may also refer to: * Privy council, a body that advises the head of state * Privy mark, a small mark in the design of a coin * Privy Pur ...

were listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

Property

The school and privy are at the end of a small unpaved road leading north from the highway about 2 miles (3.2 km) south of Margaretville, just north of the reservoir. The area around the school is wooded and otherwise undeveloped. The East Branch of the

Delaware River The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock (village), New York, Hancock, New York, the river flows for along the borders of N ...

, the waterway impounded to create the reservoir, is a short distance to the northwest. The main building is a small one-story structure, , of

fieldstone Fieldstone is a naturally occurring type of stone, which lies at or near the surface of the Earth. Fieldstone is a nuisance for farmers seeking to expand their land under cultivation, but at some point it began to be used as a construction mate ...

walls and

foundation Foundation may refer to: * Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization ** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S. ** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...

with a

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

d roof covered in asphalt shingles, pierced by a small

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tower ...

at the front and a brick

chimney A chimney is an architectural ventilation structure made of masonry, clay or metal that isolates hot toxic exhaust gases or smoke produced by a boiler, stove, furnace, incinerator, or fireplace from human living areas. Chimneys are typic ...

at the rear.

Clapboard Clapboard (), also called bevel siding, lap siding, and weatherboard, with regional variation in the definition of these terms, is wooden siding of a building in the form of horizontal boards, often overlapping. ''Clapboard'' in modern Americ ...

fills in the gable ends. A single paneled door is centrally located in the south (front) facade; there are three windows on either side and two on the rear. A stone step leads up to the front door, supplemented by a modern wooden

wheelchair ramp A wheelchair ramp is an inclined plane installed in addition to or instead of stairs. Ramps permit wheelchair users, as well as people pushing strollers, carts, or other wheeled objects, to more easily access a building, or navigate between ar ...

. At the left, five feet (1.75 m) off the ground is a

datestone A datestone is typically an embedded stone with the date of engraving and other information carved into it. They are not considered a very reliable source for dating a house, as instances of old houses being destroyed and rebuilt (with the old da ...

with "1820" on it. Inside a small vestibule opens into the main schoolroom, with wooden floors, walls in horizontal wood siding to four feet (1.3 m) and pressed tin above joining a similar ceiling. A box stove is at the rear, and blackboards and desks and other school items, some original, are located within. The privy is northeast of the school. It is a small frame building, 6½ by 10½ feet (2 by 3.2 m) on a stone foundation, sided in clapboard with an asphalt roof. There are two rooms, one for boys and another for girls.

History

Dunraven had its own school as early as 1765, when a wooden school was built somewhere in the vicinity. It burned sometime between its construction and 1820, when a local couple conveyed the small

lot Lot or LOT or The Lot or ''similar'' may refer to: Common meanings Areas * Land lot, an area of land * Parking lot, for automobiles *Backlot, in movie production Sets of items *Lot number, in batch production *Lot, a set of goods for sale togethe ...

where the school stands now to the school district with the condition that it could only be used for educational or religious purposes by them or any subsequent owner. The townspeople built a school of fieldstone, an unusual material for a schoolhouse in

upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region consisting of the area of New York State that lies north and northwest of the New York City metropolitan area. Although the precise boundary is debated, Upstate New York excludes New York City and Long Is ...

but probably understandable in Dunraven due to its local abundance. Its appearance is not known, although it may have been similar to the current building. The original privy, whose exact date of construction is not known, had no separate toilets. By 1857 the school had fallen into disrepair, and was apparently torn down. The stones were saved to be rebuilt with new mortar in 1860. Eighty years later, in 1940, the small local districts were centralized, and the school became the property of the Margaretville Central School District. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, when New York City began the process of acquiring and condemning land for

, it first attempted to overturn the deed restriction in order to demolish the school. It was unsuccessful, and after it abandoned the attempt the district tried to sell the building. Voters rejected the proposal, and the district then transferred the property to the Town of Middletown for use as a historical museum. It also serves some other public purposes.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in New York Former school buildings in the United States National Register of Historic Places in Delaware County, New York Catskills School buildings completed in 1860 Defunct schools in New York (state) Buildings and structures in Delaware County, New York

Property

History

See also

References