Maintaining the Westmoreland Corner School

In the late 1700’s, there was a need for a school in the southwestern part of Westmoreland, NH.  In 1789 a one-room schoohouse was built near th junction of River Road and Old County Road in the Barrows Country.

In the early 1800’s many families had settled north and west of there to be further from Indian attacks.  Parents objected to their children having to walk so far to school.  After much discussion, it was decided to move the school so it would be more centrally located.  Teams of oxen moved the building up the hill about a mile and a half to Reyonolds Road. It was called High Tops School sitting high in the hilltops with about 110 children attending.  There were 11 families with an average of 10 children in each family.

By 1846 migration of families to the valley took place as the railroad came into existence and the land near the river was much more fertile for farming.  The school was then again moved by teams of oxen down Reynolds Road to the corner of Poocham and River Roads, where it is today.  The Corner School, as it is now called, was used as a school until 1950.  It is now the Corner School Museum.

The building was officially listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984 and the New Hampshire State Register of Historic Places in 2007.