Encountered on a recent ride in an unfamiliar area: It’s “The Hexagonal Schoolhouse”, dating, according the the sign out front, to 1837.
The building is lovely and light, but it’s hard to imagine more than four students and a teacher inside, at the most. Apparently, though, the builder,a Quaker father named Richard Pim, built it for his own nine children.
Are the shutters original? Maybe not, but the mechanisms might be. (I don’t know enough about early shutter hardware to be certain, one way or the other.) The windows are modern, though, I’m sure. I don’t think double-hung panes existed in 1837.
According to this article, there was once a smoke-house above, and a spring-house below — but that was on the original site, a short distance from where it stands today. When Pim’s property was eventually sold to a devloper, the schoolhouse was saved and moved to its present location.
Note: Basil and I will be traveling for about a week, beginning about now. Internet access will not be assured, so response to comments and emails may be spotty or absent until our return.