It was one of approximately 21 schoolhouses for grades 1 - 8 in the town of Bristol, ME. The two story building was used most years with grades 1-4 on the bottom floor and grades 5-8 on the upper level. The Washington School was closed in 1954 upon the completion of the Bristol Consolidated School. In 1955 Masters Machine bought the building and ran their business there until they outgrew the faci
lity, and in 1964 moved into a larger, modern plant. For the next 40 years the schoolhouse was unused except for some storage and an array of varmets, and gradually fell into disrepair. In the mid-2000's a group of citizens formed the Round Pond Schoolhouse Associatiion, a 501c3 non-profit organizatioin, obtained the building from Masters Machine Company and began the long process of schoolhouse restoratioin. MISSION
The mission of the Round Pond Schoolhouse Association is: "We are a non-profit organization dedicated to maintaining the Washington Schoolhouse as a museum for displaying local historical articles and a place to provide educational, cultural and community events for the Round Pond Village." the museum committee recently resolved: "The museum collection should reflect on village life between 1885-1954, the years the school was in session, and extendfing backwards and forwards as artifacts are indivudually deemed appropriate and of interest." The museum will be housed on the second floor of the schoolhouse. The lower hall will be used for village activities. OUTHOUSE ANNEX
A two story Outhouse Annex was carefully added in 2011. The original Annex was built in 1925 and contained 4 toilets. The outhouse was torn down in about 1964 by Masters' Machine after they vacated the building. Rebuilding the Annex was started in late 2010 and was completed in May 2011. The height and pitch of the Annex was determined from a patch on the building corner board. The original cess pit was cleaned and presently houses a Sun Mar composter. ACTIVITIES IN 2011
2011 was a very busy year. Two concerts were held at the schoolhouse. A concert as a fundraiser for the school by country singer and Round Pond native Slaid Cleaves occured in April and the UMaine Capella group performed in May. The two major fundraising event were the Memorial Weekend ABC Rummage sale and the First Annual Crafts Fair that occured in late July. The Washington School Art Camp was held July 24-30 with art instructor Donna Stano of Round Pond. There was a furniture restoration talk, a basketry lessons and the Pemaquid Watershed Association held a meeting at the school. The Annual Meeting was held in September. Candy Congdon, Round Pond's correspondent for the Lincoln County News, was this years speaker. Her take home message was about the great spirit of volunteerism in this community where folks in Round Pond from all walks of life came together to roll up their sleeves and get the restoration job completed. The schoolhouse project was a "shinning" example of community spirit. ACTIVITIES IN 2013
Many of the same types of activities were held in 2013. Two pillowcase events took place in early spring and again in late September. These events are held to help ConKerr Cancer. Three Travel Tuesdays about Antarctica, hiking the Appalachian Trail and stories about the Maine Woods. Also, three Beano nights were held during the spring and summer with George Sawyer as the Beano Master. The two big events the RPSA were the 6th Annual ABC Rummage Sale and the 3rd Annual Arts at the Schoolhouse. Donna Green Stano once again held her Art Camp for youngsters at the Washington School. Music resounded through the building the the Katahdin Valley Boys Bluegrass concert and the Nor'easters Barbershop Chorus along with "Stories and Songs" by Anthony, Hardy and Sferra. The Annual Meeting was held in mid-September and featured Craig Elliott's talk "A Photo Journey thru Old Round Pond." COMMITTEES
Museum - This committee has a very large task ahead of acquiring and selecting artifacts for inclusion in the museum section of the building. Some display cases have been acquired or donated and an organ (circ 1880-1890) has just been donated by the United Methodist Church of Round Pond. Building & Grounds - Much remains to be done. This year the Outhouse Annex was completed, emergency exit lights were installed and the paper work submitted to the the state's fire marshalls office and approved, and railings for the front and side steps installed. A huge honey bee colony of an estimated 140,000 bees was partially removed from the upper north side of the building. Two large projects remain for 2012 and beyond. The north side will be painted in the spring-summer and a very damp basement will need attention shortly. The belfry project will be accomplished sometime in the future.
