Saturday, June 22, 2019

An Audience at the School



McConnell School is an abandoned one-room school house not far from New Brigden, Alberta.  It sits on a hill beside a well-travelled trail deep in farming country.


When the school was in use it remained open from spring until the Christmas Concert at which time the school closed for the harshest of the winter months.  At the time, I'll bet those Christmas Concerts were the special event of the year.


The school was closed in 1941 and the kids were sent to New Brigden to further their education.  For some years it was used as a granary but has now been long abandoned.




This was the first time I had seen the school and it couldn't have happened on a more gloriously warm and bright summer day.  The weathered wood of the building along with the moss and lichen growing on the roof made the experience even more inviting.  A good day to be alive.


The cattle just across the trail added that extra touch to the down-home country feeling.  They were quite the curious audience.




The young bull (seen on the right side of the pictures) was being quite vocal...look at him with his head raised high.  He was the star among the crowd.


Historical information courtesy of William Peter Baergen's book "Pioneering with a Piece of Chalk."

Photographed on July 14, 2018.

4 comments:

  1. The old school is still holding up pretty well against the elements despite being over 100 years old now.

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  2. Been here. Hidden just off the highway. Nice photos.

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  3. I wish I'd seen this one when I was in the area! Nice! Love the framing of the marker over the school.

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  4. I love the third photo - great job getting the years the school was open to frame it. I went to a one-room schoolhouse (two of them actually) but they've been turned into homes now and much of the original character is gone.

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