What’s next for historic schoolhouse?
The Friends group has begun restoration of the mid-19th century building
Jane Goetz gingerly picked a path through the rainsoaked grass Monday at the Berks Heritage Center in Bern Township.
“Watch out for puddles,” she called to about eight members of the Friends of Epler Schoolhouse, who waited outside the former one-room school.
Goetz is chairwoman of the grassroots group responsible for moving the former school 1½ miles southeast from its original location on Van Reed Road in Bern Township to the heritage center.
Goetz, of Leesport, chairwoman of the Friends, and others campaigned for months to preserve the building, which had been slated for demolition. Their dedication to the cause earned the support of county officials; the Greater Berks Development Fund, which owned the building; and an anonymous donor, who stepped in with a major contribution only days before the scheduled razing.
Secure on its new site, the stone schoolhouse, built in 1847, seems at home among the collection of museums and other historic structures, including the Gruber Wagon Works, the C. Howard Hiester Canal Center and Wertz’s Covered Bridge, at the heritage center.
But moving the schoolhouse was just the start, said Charlie Henke, vice chairman of the group and chairman of the building committee.
The group assembled Monday was there to plan the restoration of the nearly 175-yearold building.
Although the old school was moved in July, Henke said, the Friends did not have access to the building until September, after the county finished grading and otherwise stabilizing the site.
Their first step was to tear out updates made after 1931 when the school was converted to a home.
“We are removing anything that was not original,” Henke’s wife, Sharon, said, noting a kitchen and room divider have already been demolished.
A number of the group have expertise or experience in historic preservation, Goetz said. So it was easy for them to see which features were added while the building was used as a home.
Distinguishing the original features from older details can be a bit trickier, she said. So the Friends turned to county parks employees, Dan Rowe, historic resource supervisor, and Susan Speros, historic program and interpretation coordinator, for help.
Speros, who was furloughed due to the coronavirus crisis, volunteered her time Monday.
The two examined the flooring with the Friends, and
found the original boards lay beneath a newer installation. Their assessment of the wainscoting also revealed it to be of later period. The findings will be presented to the Friends’ board of directors, which will decide how to proceed.
There are a number of challenges in restoring the structure as a museum, Charlie Henke said, and some concessions to modernity are required. Among these are inconspicuously wiring the building for electricity and installing heating and air conditioning. Temperature control is necessary, he said, since the group plans to display artifacts in the restored schoolhouse.
Some of the labor can be done by volunteers, he said, but professional artisans are needed for the skilled work. For example, glaziers will repair the windows and masons will restore stonework altered when two windows were converted to doors.
The group is pleased with the accomplishments of the past three months, but there still is much work ahead, Goetz said.
“Somedays, I ask my husband ‘What did I do?’ but I have no regrets,” she said. “We’ll get through it, one day at a time.”
Henke estimates the complete restoration will cost about $100,000 or more, but the figure does not intimidate Goetz or Bonnie Schaeffer, treasurer of the group.
“When we were raising money for moving the schoolhouse, we raised $3,000 in one week,” Goetz said, breaking off as Schaeffer chimed in “just from $10 and $20 donations.
Even small amounts are a big help, they said.
For more information, email friendsofeplers1schoolhouse@gmail.com