OLD BARNSTABLE SCHOOLHOUSE
Built in 1854 by local master carpenter Samuel Sturgis Crocker
Photograph courtesy of
Steve Heaslip
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PRESERVING HISTORY - INSPIRING COMMUNITY
3328 MAIN STREET, RT. 6A, BARNSTABLE VILLAGE, MASSACHUSETTES
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A Message from the President
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The Old Barnstable Schoolhouse has played a central role in the life of the Barnstable Village community for over 170 years. It certainly was formative to the youngsters who experienced their early years of formal schooling in that building, first in just two classrooms. Then as the number of residents grew in the Village, the Schoolhouse grew as well to accommodate more students and to spread its influence.
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Although the Old Barnstable Schoolhouse began as a local place of learning, its influence has reached beyond Barnstable Village. As its graduates have come of age in a changing world, they have applied the values and lessons formed in those early classrooms to meet new societal needs.Today, their descendants study, work, live and lead around the globe, each carrying forward traces of the seeds planted there.
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Friends of the Schoolhouse, Inc. (FOSH) is responsible for the management and maintenance of the building which today houses 11 artists and their studios in the former classroom and cafeteria spaces. In 1987, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places along with other buildings along the Old King's Highway. FOSH recognizes and respects the historic value of the Schoolhouse. It invites the community to join in the efforts needed to protect the integrity and enhance the beauty of the historic building and its Village.
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    Crystal Gips, President
    Friends of the Old Schoolhouse, Inc.
Built in 1854 by local master carpenter Samuel Sturgis Crocker
OLD BARNSTABLE SCHOOLHOUSE
Friends of the Schoolhouse, INC. (FOSH) is a nonprofit corporation charted by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts dedicated to preserving the Old Barnstable Schoolhouse and sharing its story with the community. Through restoration, education, and events, we work to keep this historic building alive as a place of learning, art, and connection.
Our Mission
 The Charter states the purposes of FOSH as follows:
To raise funds to restore the old schoolhouse in Barnstable MA, located in Barnstable Village, adjacent to the meetinghouse of the Unitarian Church of Barnstable. Â Â
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To maintain the schoolhouse building under a lease from the owner of the premise for occupancy to benefit social services activities and to do all things necessary and incidental thereto.
