The National Trust for the Cayman Islands will celebrate the 85th anniversary of the Savannah Schoolhouse on Saturday, 13 Sept.
Still sitting on its original ironwood posts, the Old Savannah Schoolhouse was built after another old school in the Spotts area was significantly damaged in the 1932 storm. It’s Cayman’s last standing one-room schoolhouse.
It first opened the doors to students on 12 September 1940 and cost approximately 250 pounds to build.
A piece of Cayman history
“Some time ago, we were able to interview Mr. Will Wallace Bodden, the head carpenter who helped the build the structure,” said Arthurlyn Pedley, a general elected member of the National Trust.
“He said the stone was so hard to dig at the site, that when they were digging the holes for the ironwood posts, they could only get down about two inches or so, into the ground per night. They would put firewood into the holes in the stone and burn it, so they could soften up the rock, and then they would use their picks to dig down into the rock as much as they could, to get the posts into the ground.”
The old building is framed with ironwood posts, with poured cement between the frames.
“When we look at this structure, we don’t just see an old Caymanian building – what you are looking at is a structure that represents construction styles in our past that no longer exist.”
The one-room classroom was used for 41 years until 1981 when it was no longer adequate to house the growing number of students in the area. As a result, the doors closed, and the students moved to the new Savannah Primary School built immediately behind it.
For the next six years the building was used for a store house for furniture supplies. And according to an interpretive sign on the property, “By 1987 it was in very poor repair and its fate was being strongly debated. Some felt it should be demolished, while others (especially former students) rallied to preserve it.”
At around the same time this debate was going on, the National Trust was established, and each district committee of the Trust was asked to select a preservation project to work on.
For the residents in Savannah, the building held memories of childhood and was therefore a significant part of their heritage. As a result, the Savannah district committee chose the Old Savannah School house as their first and principal project.
The National Trust entered into a 100-year peppercorn lease with the Government, and they set about restoring it.
“It was a labour of love,” Pedley said.
Visiting the school
Inside the school, there is still an old tamarind switch that was used to ensure the children were well behaved and the clock that kept time is still mounted on the wall. There is also a photo of the students that dates back to the early 1950s.
Normally, the Old Savannah Schoolhouse is open only by appointment. Stuart Wilson, historic programmes manager at the National Trust, works with school groups throughout the year, opening it up and giving talks, letting the children sit at the desks where they learn about what it was like to be a student in a one-room school.
Wilson said, “The mandate of the National Trust is to protect and preserve built heritage and flora and fauna for present and future generations. And it is incumbent on us to share these properties, these historic and heritage sites with the younger generation and put them on display so they can a more practical appreciation for their culture and heritage.”
The celebration on Saturday will include special musical performances by Savannah Primary School students and stories shared by former students of the old school. The event which takes place between 10am and noon is free to the public
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