WINDHAM – Home design often means re-design, especially when the property was not a home to begin with. But this historic building has always a house – a schoolhouse, that’s all.
At one time there were 19 one-room schoolhouses in Windham, among them the Amos Hawkes School here, dating back to 1837. Later called Duck Pond School, and then known as the Knight School, and expanded (it had been built for 48 pupils but at times hosted 63) the brick structure was closed in 1941 and converted into a private home in 1946.
And so it is today, but one much updated and improved since it was featured as a Home of the Week in the Maine Sunday Telegram in April 2009. Systems are updated, a south-facing back deck has been added; the two-vehicle detached garage has a new, rubber roof.
And in a sense, the 1,144-square-foot home has been returned to its initial design, with a main living area of more than 600 square feet. The kitchen is off the back entrance, and a new wood stove on tile hearth is nearby. Original features include the nicely refinished hardwood flooring, chair rails, and the school’s built-in, glass-fronted bookcase, in one corner. Coathooks by the front door continue on into the laundry (washer only), which was once part of the cloakroom – note the transom window and high ceiling.
Just behind, sharing an addition that has been completely renovated, are two good-sized bedrooms. One features exposed brick, the other a large pine closet. The other side of the cloakroom has been converted into a full bath with soaking tub.
Tucked back from the street behind a two-entrance driveway, the home occupies a 1.69-acre lot with excellent gardening possibilities. A 14-foot-by-20-foot barn, useful for storing firewood and yard gear but needing some work, sits alongside a venerable stone wall tracing what appears to be an old carriage road/trail – very likely used by the young scholars who were tasked with fetching water, in a 10-quart milk pail, from a well down towards Route 302.
The home at 16 Pope Road, Windham, is listed for sale at $189,000 by John Hatcher of The Hatcher Group at Keller Williams Realty, and is being shown by appointment. For more information or to arrange a private viewing, please contact John at 775-2121 or at jhatcher@kw.com.
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