The Little Red Schoolhouse

 At the end of last summer my husband and I purchased a little red schoolhouse cabin at Point Agassiz.   I have looked across the waters to Point Agassiz on the mainland for most of my life, but had rarely visited and had only gone to the beach.  This is a photo from my back deck.  The arrow points to Point Agassiz.

On one visit to the beach, my husband and I found a trail that lead to a one lane road, which we walked and found the famed Schoolhouse of Point Agassiz.  I posted about this little adventure in 2014 Here. 

The schoolhouse was built in 1923 to serve the children of the homesteaders in the community.  The people farmed vegetables, raised chickens and herded cattle, and they sold the products to the grocery store in Petersburg.  When transportation to Petersburg from the lower '48 became more reliable in the late '40's, there was no market for the goods produced at Agassiz. Many of the families moved to Petersburg and the little schoolhouse closed.  A logging company purchased the building and moved it around the region to logging sites, using it as a cook house.  When the industry died in Southeast Alaska, the company owners moved the little schoolhouse to a site near where it was originally built.  It remained in family hands for many decades. It is one of two buildings still standing from the original homestead days.  My granddaughter's Helmi and Heidi, have history here.   Their great-great grandmother attended school in this little house.  Their great grandparents own the other house that is still standing close to the original site of the schoolhouse.  Their home was the US Post Office for the Pt. Agassiz homesteaders.  

We purchased our schoolhouse cabin in early August 2020 and spent several days 'camping' in it until the weather got too bad for comfortable boat travel in late November.   We were back again in March with all kinds of ideas and energy.  I took this photo on a sunny October day in 2021.  New siding, a coat of paint and regular weed eating changed the look of the 98 year old cabin.

I spent the summer of '21 painting and sewing for my little schoolhouse.  I spray painted an old daybed blue and covered the pillows with fabrics from the Shine On collection by Bonnie and Camille.  You can see the Fast Track quilt hanging over the arm of the daybed.  This daybed and trundle sleep two. This is a family cabin and all 6 granddaughters need a place to sleep.  The wall hanging has Alaska wildflowers.  I posted about this quilt HERE.  I used a lovely green check from the Meadow collection by Rifle Paper for the table cloth.  

Our schoolhouse has a kitchen with cold running water and a very useful propane stove.  The cupboards were stocked with everything for cooking and dishes.  Don't you love the cupboard pulls and the orange counters. We don't have electricity but we do have a nice generator so I can sew and charge my cell phone.  

This is the view from the kitchen window.

This is the view from the windows in the front.

I really enjoyed my time here this summer.  I spent about 3 days each week at the school house and I made a lot of progress with cabin projects and sewing projects.  My husband was even able to make it over for a visit a few times and I put him to work.