The Schoolhouse Mystery

We are being asked to figure out the history of this school house so that the local Heritage Society can place it on the National Historic Register.  The paperwork for submission requires a thorough documentation of the history of the school house.

That is where the mystery begins.  The date on top of the door says 1871 but it was not here in 1871, the school house was apparently first situated nearby on what was called Hells Bend, a curve in the Kelseyville Creek.  At some point it was  moved here.  But when?  By whom?  And has it moved multiple times?  

Can we dig up old maps? Can we go to the county archives and figure out more to the story?  Are people getting different schools mixed up? Could we interview old timers in the area who may know more about the history?  Can we find old photographs of the place? 

Then what will the archaeology tell us?  Can we use geophysics (GPR and Magnetometry, coupled with traditional metal detecting) to find subsurface features?  

What will test excavations tell us?  Can we find trash dumps? 

What more lies ahead?  

This is the fun of archaeology.  We can't wait to begin this summer!

Facebook Post about the Schoolhouse -- https://www.facebook.com/visitKelseyville/posts/the-hells-bend-school-still-under-the-auspices-of-the-kelseyville-unified-school/3834735289869852/

School district plans in 2017-- https://lakeconews.com/news/51973-kelseyville-unified-school-board-pursuing-plan-to-give-away-kelsey-creek-schoolhouse

Where was the school house located?

A major thrust of our project will be to determine if it is in the purported location where it was being used by schoolchildren.  We will be looking at old photos and documents to make a determination.  For example, the photo above does not show where it was located in the town. And for that matter it may not even be the right schoolhouse!

These are maps from the Rumsey collection of old maps, it is a database put together by Stanford University.  The map is called Weber's Map of Lake County, CA. It is dated to 1914 and was made by the Punnett Brothers. The actual link to the map is here. Check out the Kelsey Creek School house labeled in the middle of the lower map in quadrant #3 (below 34).  The white schoolhouse today is located exactly with the #3 is written.  However, the school is designated by a flag symbol and it is located to the northwest of the intersection, but then there is a small curved line that appears to go towards the #3.  Is the symbol intentionally drawn in the wrong place because that #3 is written in the exact location where the schoolhouse should be?  Maybe we'll never know. But we'll certainly try to find out!