Most of Wellfleet's 19th-century district schools have long since been decommissioned or demolished. Pond Hill School is the last of the twelve to survive relatively intact. It was built in 1857, replacing an older single-story one-room structure serving the town's third district.
The architecture is a wood-frame setup with a gabled roof and clapboard siding. The main entrance is on the north side, featuring a door frame with a modest Greek Revival character, a wide frieze, and a simple cornice. Inside, the layout consists of large chambers on each floor and small service rooms on the north side. The upper floor was modified to house a library in 1912.
The schoolhouse life ended in 1880. The South Wellfleet Ladies Social Union acquired the property in 1886. In 1945, the property was given to a neighborhood association, which now owns and maintains the building.
Today, the South Wellfleet Neighborhood Association maintains the structure. The building features a single-story addition with a shed roof on its southern side, which houses modern bathrooms.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Kyle McLonely
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