Bell Hill School
The Bell Hill School or District Number One School is an historic school in Otisfield, Maine. The one-room brick schoolhouse was one of three completed in 1839 for the town, and is the only one to survive. It served the town as a district school until 1940. It was acquired in 1950 by the Bell Hill Meetinghouse Association, and has been converted into a local history museum. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.
Description
The Bell Hill School is a single-story brick structure, measuring about by, resting on a granite foundation. It has a front-facing gable roof with low pitch, covered in asphalt shingles. The cornices are simple wooden boxes, with a piece of ogee moulding on the eave wall. The main facade has three bays, with a centered doorway flanked by sash windows. The north and west facades have three sash windows each, while the east facade has two windows flanking a chimney. The brick is laid in Flemish bond on two facades and American bond on the other two; it is not clear if the walls were originally built this way or if it was the result of later restoration work.The interior of the school is divided into a foyer area and a single classroom. The foyer contains a small washbasin, shelf, and towel rack. The walls are finished in plaster above irregularly-sized wainscoting. The western wall of the classroom is covered in fiberboard painted black, which was used as a blackboard.
The building has had only modest alterations. An opening in the western gable is filled with brick; its original decoration is unknown. In 1902 a woodshed and outhouse were attached to the school's north facade; these were removed after the school was closed in 1940, including the restoration of brick in a doorway space that had been opened between the school and that structure.