Skip to Navigation | Skip to Content
» Back to: Parks home » Planning & Stewardship » Cultural Resources Stewardship » History in the Parks » Kingsley Schoolhouse

Kingsley Schoolhouse

Kingsley Schoolhouse, 2010
Little Bennett Regional Park, The Kingsley Trail
Clarksburg Road, Rte. 121
Clarksburg, MD 20871
301-972-6581
Open for special events. Please check the Parks events calendar.

Events | History | Plans for Restoration

Of the late 19th century one-room schoolhouses still existing in Montgomery County, the Kingsley Schoolhouse is one of the few that remains in a basically unaltered state. This site is being furnished to reflect its historic appearance in the late 1920s, based on oral histories, and is open only for specific occasions. Please check the Parks Calendar for special events at the Schoolhouse.

History

Built in 1893 in response to the need for a school within walking distance of farms located in the Little Bennett Creek Valley, the Kingsley Schoolhouse served the local community until it closed in 1935. The building served all of the farm families in the rural Kingsley area, teaching around 20 children at a time ranging in age from 6-12 years old. The schoolhouse was closed after additional schools were constructed in the upper county and attendance was reported to be dwindling.

Each school day would end the same way it began, with the ringing of the school bell.  A wood burning stove was used to warm the room. The classroom was sparsely furnished with a slate chalkboard, simple wooden desks, a globe and a Victrola record player. The playground was behind the building and included swings and seesaws. If weather permitted, the boys and girls played basketball, softball, dodge ball and other activities like fishing, ice skating, and sledding.

The front-gable building has a stone foundation and is covered with German siding. At the west end of the corrugated tin roof is the framework for a bell. Since the immediate area was known locally as Froggy Hollow – due to the large number of frogs that could be heard peeping in the low-lying area - the school acquired the nickname of Froggy Hollow School.

Restoration

The schoolhouse was opened to the public for a special viewing in September 2007. Currently, the school is opened to the public once per year by the Clarksburg Historical Society and Little Bennett Regional Park. Restoration efforts target the years 1925-1929. Those years are the ones best remembered by former students through oral history interviews conducted by the Department of Parks over many years.

The best historic photograph currently known to exist of the schoolhouse dates to 1929. One of the more interesting aspects of interpreting the schoolhouse to this period of time is that it coincides with the state school board’s call to standardize rural schoolhouses. As a result, Kingsley’s windows were relocated and rearranged to accommodate the latest thinking on the role of day lighting in pupil performance.

The school is located in Little Bennett Regional Park, owned and operated by theM-NCPPC, Department of Parks. The Kingsley Schoolhouse trail is hard packed gravel with no substantial elevation changes. It is approximately 2.6 miles and ends near the schoolhouse, which has a small picnic area.

back to top - Last update: June 16, 2011