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Worton Point School
11730 St. James - Newtown Road
Worton, Maryland
Kent County
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| Worton Point Schoolhouse, located on the northwest
side of St. James-Newtown Road, sits to the south of the St.
Georges
Church in the tiny crossroads community of Worton, Kent County.
The gable-front school building once served as a temporary church
and currently it is utilized as the St. Georges Community Center.
There is a cemetery to the northwest of the schoolhouse and a
coal shed and two outhouses to the rear of the church. The school
was built in 1890 and served the educational needs of the Worton
community until it held class for the last time in 1966. |
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| Worton Point School is a one-story, gable-roofed,
frame building, measuring 30 feet deep by 20 feet wide, which
rests on brick
piers. Horizontal board siding sheathes the exterior of the building.
The east (front) elevation contains two four-over-two-light double-hung
sash windows and a central door that leads into a vestibule.
The side elevations have symmetrically placed openings – the
south wall has three six-over-six-light double-hung sash windows,
while the north wall has two of the same windows flanking a central
door. |
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| The floor plan is divided into two rooms, a
vestibule and a classroom. The vestibule runs the full length
of the front
elevation and measures
approximately
4 feet
deep.
Sunlight,
filtered
through
two four-over-two-light double-hung sash windows on the east
wall, provided illumination in this space, which originally served
as the school’s library. Shelves were built into the north
and south walls to accommodate books for the students use. Today
it serves as an entranceway and storage area for the community
center. |
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Today the interior walls of the classroom are
decorated with copies of photographs and historic documents
that tell the story of the Worton Point Schoolhouse. |
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| Currently, the room is heated by a gas stove against the
south wall, but originally the school used a coal stove for
the same function. A reminder of this feature is a chimney
stack found on the west wall. The walls are covered with
modern wood grained paneling, while the floor is carpeted
wall to wall. |
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The classroom retains many reminders of its time as a schoolhouse.
The west wall of the classroom contains the original chalkboards
on each side of the chimney stack. A book shelf with two
shelves runs underneath the chalkboards and continues to
the floor. |
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| The red iron water hand pump and white-green metal sink
that were used by the school children are still located in
the southeast corner of the school room. |
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| Worton Point’s physical layout and appearance
differ little from Hosanna and Rock Elementary, which both have
a vestibule
and a large main classroom. The vestibule at Worton Point, like
at Hosanna, was integrated into the rectangular form, but it
was used as a library instead of a storage space. The interior
of the school, in terms of the necessary items such as desks
and chalkboards, is no different from Hosanna or Rock, but the
wood grained paneling on the walls can also be found in
the Galesville Rosenwald School. |
| Since it closed as a school in 1966, the Worton Point Schoolhouse
has been used as both a temporary church and community center.
As a community center it strives to educate the community about
the role played by many of its teachers and graduates. Its doors
are open to the public and free tours of the building are available
by appointment. Donations are welcomed, as they provide the financial
means for the community to preserve the schoolhouse. In the future,
local individuals would like to restore the school to its original
condition. Community members are actively seeking monetary support
through fundraising events and grants. |
| Contact Person: Karen Somerville (410) 810-1416/somersinger@intercom.net |
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