School open
Wednesday/Saturday/Sunday
12:00 noon to 4:00 PM
April till November 1st
For special tours
Contact:Ron Black at 301-932-6064
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1348 Visitors since April |
 | Students from Indian Head Elementary School visited the One-Room School in Port Tobacco. The students were taught lessons from the newly developed curriculum guides. Vivian Belcher took the students back in time with her instructional activities as well as the activities at recess time. |  |
This small one room school, circa 1876, was built just north of Port Tobacco village on a three-quarter acre parcel where Chapel Point and Causeway roads intersect.
For over 150 years, Port Tobacco was one of the busiest ports on the Eastern Seaboard. Located on the Port Tabacco River, four miles north of its confluence with the Potomac River, the town was a transfer point for goods shipped by land or water. Ships filled with American and European passengers and materials frequented this port.
By the mid-1800s, the port ceased to be usable when the river
began silting up due to the agricultural run-off from the surrounding
plantations and farms. However, Port Tobacco was Charles County's
largest town and the county seat and a large school was required. It is
difficult to place an exact date for its construction because of the
information in the School Board Minutes of August 1892 which read as
follows: "The Port Tobacco Court House was destroyed by fire Wednesday
night, August third. The Journal, pay-roll, desk, printed annual reports
of the public schools, teacher's reports for the first three terms of
the school year and the valuable papers belonging to the Board were
wholly destroyed." A Legislative Act in 1869 had created the One-room
School System. With legislative action so slow, this school could have
been built as early as 1872 or as late as 1876. Windows in the school,
when removed for renovation, were marked "shipped to T.R. Farrall", whose
mercantile business was established in 1873 after the Baltimore and
Potomac Railroad came to La Plata. From the Maryland Independent of
October 12, 1876, an article reads "Our Village School opened with
Miss Lizzie Fowler of Prince Georges County as teacher".
The Port Tobacco School was used for seventy-seven years. White students were enrolled from 1876 to 1924 and from 1924 to 1953, the school housed black students. The school usually housed grades one through seven. In 1953, these students moved to a new Port Tobacco Elementary School farther west on Route 6. The building was then used for 4-H Club meetings; it served as a local library where books were collected and checked out.
The Board of Education sold the building and its land to Frank Button Wade in 1959. In 1989, the Wade family leased the school to the Society for the Restoration of Port Tobacco for a period of 40 years, with the ability to renew the lease. In association with the Society for the Restoration of Port Tobacco; the Charles County Retired Teachers Association began efforts to restore the school.The restoration committee, under the leadership of former School Superintendent Jesse L. Starkey, recruited historic architectural expert Richard Rivoire. Rivoire, renowned for his insistence on accuracy in structural restorations, is author of Homeplaces, a study of historic Charles County homes. Also, in 1989, the Town of Port Tobacco was designated as an historic district and was entered in the National Register of Historic Places of the United States. The schoolhouse was named one of the District's 6 historically significant buildings.
The school is timber-framed with mortise-and-tenon joint work. Brick piers support the main 31'x 21' block. Wood shingles cover the gable roof. Half of the exterior siding was replaced. German siding (knotched and overlapping planks) was specially-milled for the school. A ramp leads to the reproduction paneled entrance door of the projecting vestibule. Coat hooks and shelves similar to the original and donated period lunch pails and tin cups line the vestibule. A showcase contains an original school bell , marbles, horsehair plaster, an ink well, and a picture of students circa 1918.
The original classroom door opens into the school room. Five restored "six-over-six" paned sash windows, with reproduction shutters, light the interior. The original wood floor required only oiling to restore it. Vertical tongue-and-groove wainscoting rises to a height of 3'6". The ceiling and walls have a skin coat of plaster painted with a broom to give the appearance of the whitewashed horsehair plaster. A chimney (now rebuilt) and a stove (replacement, Woodland 1876) as listed in the original inventory, provided heat.
A platform at the front of the room was built based on the original "ghost markings". The slate chalk boards were brought from another old county school. The electric light fixture is designed to resemble the oil light once used there. Some desks are original to the school.
The Port Tobacco One Room Schoolhouse opened in 1994. The building is currently open 12-4pm; Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday from April to November 1st. For information; call Ron at 301-932-6064, Tom at 301-934-8836, or Elaine at the Port Tobacco Courthouse: 301-934-4313.
Admission is free, however, donations are accepted. The school is handicapped-accessible and can accommodate up to 25 persons comfortably.
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