Octagon Stone Schoolhouse, South Canaan, Pennsylvania, a property listed on the NRHP
The Octagon Stone Schoolhouse is a one-room school building in South Canaan Township, Pennsylvania, constructed from fieldstone in an eight-sided shape. The thick walls, roughly 18 inches wide, enclose a simple interior with a coal stove for heating and a raised teacher's platform opposite the heavy entry door.
The schoolhouse was built around 1830 and served the rural community as a teaching place for roughly 70 years before closing around 1900. After closure, the building was repurposed for storage until it gained recognition on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.
The building earned the nickname 'Stone Jug' from locals, a name rooted in its distinctive shape and heavy stone construction. This informal name reflects how the community thought about the place when generations of children gathered here to study.
The schoolhouse sits on farmland about a mile southwest of South Canaan and is accessible by local roads. The site is quiet and surrounded by crop fields, so wear sturdy shoes and expect to navigate unpaved terrain around the structure.
The building is the only remaining example of an octagonal schoolhouse in Wayne County, though similar structures once existed throughout the area. Some believe Irish immigrant masons copied the design from their homeland, giving it a special cultural connection worth noticing.
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