With the closing of the Charlotte Elementary School this June, a more than 200-year era during which, at one point, the town operated up to five local schools to provide an education for its many children is coming to an end.
      Town records show that in 1811 there were nine families in Plantation No. 3, now Charlotte, and 67 persons in all with no school. The settlers saw a need to educate their children, and the earliest schools were in homes, as there were no roads for travel. There were walking paths through the woods until they were enlarged for horse and buggy travel, so each section of the plantation had their own school. Later on, district schools were set up in sections of the town.
      In the early 1900s there were five schools in Charlotte: Damon Ridge, Smith Ridge, Lower Ridge/Gardner, Lake and Round Pond schools. These schools were for grades 1 through 8 and were taught in one room with one teacher. Not all students could be sent to high school because of the cost, so they attended the district school until they were old enough to withdraw. These district schools were usually taught two terms, summer or fall and winter, and were referred to as a female or male school according to the teacher's sex. Teachers had certificates awarded to them by a school committee after answering a few questions.
      The Damon Ridge School, District #1, was established around 1825. Located at the corner of the crossroads on Damon Ridge and Ayers Junction Road, the last school burned in 1940, and school was held in a home until 1946.
      Smith Ridge School, District #2, was finished in 1829. The land for the building was bought from Benjamin Folsom of Eastport for 62 cents. An all-time high enrollment was 50 students in 1856. In 1951?52 the students met at the town hall.
      Lower Ridge/Gardner School, District #3, the first school building in Charlotte, was reported to have been built at the site of the Gladys Bridges home, now 1039 Ayers Junction Road. It was called the Lower Ridge School. An all-time high enrollment was 126 students in 1837. This district was divided into two sections, and an offer of Isaac Gardner's house was accepted. Thus the Gardner School, now 997 Ayers Junction Road, was instituted. In 1943 the school burned, and students attended at the town hall.
      The Haywood Road School, District #4, was established on October 12, 1822, when a legal meeting of Plantation No. 3 was held at the house of Abiah Damon. District No. 1 was divided into two districts. In 1841 there were 58 students attending, and in 1849 there were 62. In 1869 Haywood schools joined Damon Ridge.
      The Round Pond School, District #5, was established around 1825-1830. This school was located across from Wellington James' house on the Charlotte Road. It closed in 1921 when the students went to the Gardner School.
      The Lake School, District #6, was established in 1828 when the town voted to set off the east side of the lake into a separate school district. In 1848 there were 42 students. In 1908 the building was torn down, and in 1913 a new school was built. In 1942 the students joined the Gardner School.
      As each one of these district schools closed, the students went to school at the town hall, known as the Gardner School or Town Hall School. All eight grades were taught by one teacher. In 1951 the one room was partitioned to accommodate grades 1 through 4 in one room with teacher Myrtle James and grades 5 through 8 in the other room with teacher Mildred Washburn.
      In 1963 the town voted to build a new school building. Students and two teachers, Mrs. Myrtle James and Paul Simoneau, moved to Charlotte Elementary School in 1965. Students enjoyed having a bathroom with running water. Eventually the school became a three-room school. Kindergarten was added in 1975. In 1985 the enrollment was 51 elementary students and 21 secondary students.
      A referendum to build a new addition to the school was approved by the town's residents in 1986. Because of the Education Reform Act of 1984, requiring a guidance counselor, a program for gifted and talented and a special education teacher, the addition was needed. It was decided to lease a portable classroom until an addition could be built.
      The school lunch program was instituted in 1986 with cooks Doreen Sawyer and Nellie Tyler. In 1986 87 enrollment was 47 elementary students and 29 secondary students. The addition was completed in 1988.
      These schools have educated students who have gone on to become teachers, doctors, veterinarians, lawyers, nurses, accountants and other types of professionals. There have been many teachers, staff, school board members and residents who have supported the schools over more than 200 years.
      This year the school board decided to close the school at the end of the school year after the town’s residents had not supported the school budget in five separate votes, with costs rising and enrollment declining. The building and land belong to the town, and the school board voted to turn the maintenance of the building over to the town on July 1.

Schoolhouse memories
      Those who attended the one-room schools have related a few of their memories of those times. Hollis McGlauflin attended the Gardner School for his first two years of school before it was closed, and then he attended the Gardner/Town Hall School in 1943. In 2021 he wrote this story for Charlotte Historical Society: "This one-room school was taught by one teacher (Mrs. Corbett) for all eight grades. The room contained a large old cook stove up front behind the teacher with a settee behind the stove. The stove was burned out and the back of it had a rusty open space.
      "George Bamford and I ate our dinner on the settee and saw a mouse nearby. We fed him some of our dinner and, just to make sure he and his family didn't starve, we put bread crust and other goodies into the open space in the stove each time we ate. After a few months the mouse population increased. We had more mice than they have at Jackson Lab! They became bolder and bolder and would run along the edge of the room. The teacher warned us not to drop crumbs while eating lunch so as not to attract mice.
      "One day Laurence Damon, who sat behind me in school, poked me with his foot and pointed at a couple of mice running, first one way, and then another along the edge of the room. The teacher grabbed a broom, but the mice were too quick for her.
      "We enjoyed the performance but didn't dare to laugh, because she knew that too much laughter would cause her to lose control of the students and she didn't mean to lose control. We knew if we laughed too much she would yank us out of our chair and shake the daylights out of us. If she got too agitated she might whack us a few times with a wooden stick, about three quarters of an inch square and three feet long, that she used to maintain control.
      "The following day she brought a couple of mouse traps and in no time had a mouse kicking and squeaking. We wondered what she was going to do, because the mouse was not dead. She proceeded straight to the big ram down wood stove in the center of the school room and released the mouse into his own private hell! I didn't think that was right, because at the start of each school day she would write a Bible verse on the blackboard and we would repeat it. This particular day the verse was 'Blessed are the merciful.' I didn't mention the irony of this to her because some things are better left unsaid!"
      Duane Furlong attended the Town Hall/Gardner School and moved to Charlotte Elementary School when it was completed in 1965. He related, "I remember when the school nurse came, and she had a little tiny Volkswagen car. While she was in seeing some of the kids, some of us older kids snuck around the building and picked the Volkswagen up and put it on the doorstep so she couldn't get out. She couldn't open the door. Mr. Simoneau, that was our teacher, told us that wasn't a very good thing to do as it was a fire hazard. I don't think he cared if she could get out or not, but it was a fire hazard." Asked if that was the worst thing that he did in school, Furlong replied, "Hmmmm, that was pretty bad."