Henry Ford’s first educational venture at The Wayside Inn involved the acquisition of The Redstone Schoolhouse, an historic one-room schoolhouse built in 1798 and located in the nearby town of Sterling, Massachusetts. It was used as a school there until 1856 before being repurposed for other uses by the town. 

In 1926 the Fords discovered the schoolhouse and, seeing the school as an important part of their village construct, purchased it for $35.50 and had it moved to The Wayside Inn property. Reconstruction began in November. Nestled among some pine trees along Dutton Road to the west of the Inn, the 16x30 foot building was rebuilt featuring original furnishings from the period, including a teacher's chair and old wooden school desks and benches. An iron stove heated the little schoolhouse. An outhouse was also built to the south of the school which is why no windows appear on the south side of the building. The schoolhouse retained its original name, which came from its initial location at the base of Red Stone Hill in Sterling. After getting consent from the Sudbury Public School Committee the school opened to local pupils and to the children of Wayside Inn employees in grades one through four in January 1927. Miss Allen was the school’s first teacher. The last class graduated in 1951.

Since the Redstone Schoolhouse accommodated grades one through four, Henry Ford sought approval from the Town of Sudbury for a second public school for the upper grades. As early as 1849 there had been a schoolhouse located around the corner from The Wayside Inn on Peakham Road, known as The Southwest District School. Town records even show that a sum of $800 had been spent on repairs for the school building in 1869, but this schoolhouse had burned down by 1884. Ford researched New England school buildings to determine a design for one that he liked and rebuilt the Southwest School on its original site near the Inn in 1930 for students in grades five through eight. A curious feature of the school was that it had separate entrances, and likely coatrooms, for the boys and the girls which reinforced the notion of gender segregation in education, though both boys and girls were taught together inside the classroom. After the school closed in 1947, the building was sold and converted into a private residence and modernized.

Henry Ford was known to have conservative views on many subjects, dancing among them. He believed that dancing was a vital part of cultural heritage and an important social activity, so he encouraged the teaching of traditional forms of dancing, such as the waltz and square dancing, at The Wayside Inn’s affiliated schools. He believed that these dances helped promote good posture, coordination, and grace, but, most importantly, that they fostered good moral values.

He was not a fan of jazz music or of the physically expressive forms of dancing that were popular during this time, such as the Charleston. He felt that jazz promoted loose morals and poor behavior. His views were not unique for this time where traditional values and conservative social norms were impacted by new forms of entertainment which were exciting to the younger generations.

Ford hired Albert E. Haynes to teach early American dances to the schoolchildren in 1932. Haynes was a Sudbury resident and a descendant of Deacon Josiah Haynes (1696 - 1775) who served Sudbury and died in battle during the Revolution. Haynes would come to the Inn on Fridays and during the afternoon he would teach the students of the Redstone and Southwest Schools. In the evening, from 7:00 to 9:45 pm, he taught dancing to the Wayside Inn Boys School students. Visit the Ballroom across the hall to see photographs of the younger children practicing dancing at the Inn.