The Old Schoolhouse

Schooling on North Haven pre-dates the construction of the existing Schoolhouse, spanning back to at least 1796 and possibly before the Revolutionary War.

The Duvall, Havens, Gardiner, Payne and Rider families were all living on Hog Neck in early times, and the twenty-two students who attended school there in 1796 were members of those families – Austin, Rebecca and Harriet Duvall; Byram, Nancy, Polly, David, Ezekiel, Sally and Silas Havens; Minerva and Rebecca Gardiner; Selah, Wilson, Mehitable, Mercy, Charles W., Zerviah and Clarence Payne; and Thomas, Samuel and Timothy Rider.  Samuel Walters, teacher of the twenty-two students of various ages and grades, was paid the paltry sum of $25 per quarter for his teaching service.  Constant Havens, John Payne and Phinheas Duvall were school trustees.

The first school was said to have been located at the south end of Sunset Beach Road near the Franklin house next to the beach.  It was used until about 1847 when, during  a severe storm, high tides and strong winds severely damaged the building.  Jeffrey Franklin purchased the ruins, salvaged some of the lumber and put an addition on his house.

In the Southampton Town archives, a document exists stating that in 1829 C.W. Payne and Thomas E. Hamilton were Commissioners of the school and that twenty-four students between the ages of five and fifteen were enrolled there.   

On February 1, 1847 school trustees James Payne, John Smith and Sylvester Howell, arranged for the purchase of land that was part of the old Caleb Duvall farm, for the purpose of building a new schoolhouse.  The land was acquired at a cost of $95 at the corner of Ferry Road and Payne Avenue.  However, when it was first built, the front door faced Ferry Road (Payne Avenue had not yet been cut through).  The exact year of its construction isn’t clear, but most likely it was soon after acquiring the land.

In December 1891, with the wood-frame structure probably  showing the wear and tear of forty-plus years, a meeting was held for the purpose of taking steps to build a new schoolhouse.  Adjoining land was purchased and plans were finalized for the construction of a two-room school building.  At the age of seventy-four, Lewis Jagger Corwin was awarded the contract to build it;  his bid, $748.  The schoolhouse was considered a fine building, painted light green with dark green trim, and L-shaped in design.   By August 1892 it was finished, with the exception of installing the desks and seats, and would be ready for fall occupancy. The old school building on the lot was sold to Annie Corwin for $30 and moved to their property at the corner of Maunekea Street and Ferry Road.  For the next forty years it was used by the Corwins as a wood shed. 

Teachers at the two-room schoolhouse educated the students of North Haven for thirty years, with Mildred Sherman of Sag Harbor having the position at the turn of the century.  By the 1920’s the children of North Haven were being transported to Pierson High School in Sag Harbor by bus and the schoolhouse on North Haven stood empty… until the night of August 26 1926, when a disastrous fire destroyed the building.  Although stories persisted that bootleggers set fire to it to distrct the authorities while contraband was being unloaded from boats on the North Haven shore during prohibition, the Sag Harbor Express reported a different cause.  It stated:  “A party of young folks were having a party earlier in the evening in the vestibule and it is supposed that embers from a dropped match or cigarette caused the blaze.”

Regardless, of which story is correct, it did bring an end to the two-room schoolhouse on North Haven.  It was never rebuilt.

So how did the one-room schoolhouse end up on the original site at Ferry Road and Payne Avenue?  It happened as a result of the newly formed North Haven Village Improvement Society, which on August 5, 1932 acted on a suggestion of Mrs. Eugene Hodenpyl Sr., a member of the Society and herself a student in the North Haven School during the mid-1870’s.  Her idea was to move the building back to the school property where it could be renovated and used as a Village Hall.  To replace the building that Mrs. Corwin had been using as a storage shed, Mrs. Cook promised to provide the Corwins with a bath house from the Cook property if the schoolhouse was returned to its original lot on Ferry Road.   The exchange was agreed upon and on September 15, 1933 the building was returned to the corner lot on Ferry Road and Payne Avenue, but this time with the door facing Payne Avenue.

The restoration started with the lots being cleared and some new shingles installed on the building.  But with winter approaching, most of the work was scheduled to resume in the spring.  In 1933 the shingling was completed and the interior painted.  The Village Improvement Society donated $90 toward the restoration.  Local workers gave of their time and talents.  Mr. Fordham wired the place, Jesse Payne varnished the floor and Mr. James Thomasson donated four days work.  With the help of Mrs. Reginald Barclay, Mrs. Eugene Hodenpyl, Mrs. J. Foster Payne, Everett Tindall and Frank W. Corwin, the school children held a fair to raise money.

Inside the schoolhouse it is interesting to note that the initials of early students are carved on the walls. If you look you can still find, on the east wall, JHC (Jesse H. Corwin), HE (Henry Edwards), Ah, JA, Mac, HHD (Henry Howard Dutcher) and MI.  On the north wall is AE.  On the south wall is HHG (Henry H. Gawley), FEM (Frank MacNairney), EK (Emma Kolbeck) and JYC (John Y. Corwin).  On the west wall is ESC (Edward Simon Curry).

In recent years, the roof and sidewalls have been re-shingled, new front and rear doors and new windows installed, and other repairs and improvements made.  As of 2006, the Old Schoolhouse is the only historic community structure still standing on North Haven. [1]

In 2021 the Old Schoolhouse underwent another historic move and traveled down Ferry Road to a new home on the grounds beside North Haven Village Hall.   The schoolhouse will become a museum for current-day school children to visit and learn about the history of this storied structure and the lives of the children that roamed the fields of North Haven in years gone by.

[1] The Early History of North Haven Long Island, New York by Dorothy Ingersoll Zaykowski, North Haven Historian Joseph Zaykowski, and contributions by Ronald L. Lowe