MOUNT DESERT — Fund-raisers are more than halfway to reaching their $315,000 goal to pay for the restoration of an old schoolhouse here.

When completed, the 1850s-era Sound Schoolhouse on Route 102 by Sargent Drive will become the year-round site of the Mount Desert Island Historical Society. The society’s present facility in Somesville will continue to operate in the summer and fall.

Fund raising for the school’s restoration and a small building at the rear of the school, which will serve as storage and office space for the historical society, kicked off in early August.

“To be halfway there in the first week of October is pretty good,” said Jaylene Roths, director of the Mount Desert Island Historical Society.

According to Roths, the historical society has received more than 30 gifts for the project, including many from summer residents. Fund-raisers are now hoping to drum up support for the project from Mount Desert Island’s year-round community.

This Saturday, the group will host “Fall Fest” at the Route 102 school to introduce residents to the old schoolhouse and the society’s plans to turn it into a community site and programming center for island history. The event will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and will include children’s games, a story hour, performances by a brass band and a magician. If it rains, the event will be held on Sunday.

Several historical society members will be on hand to share the history of the little yellow school and the once-bustling village of Sound. Named for nearby Somes Sound, the village included a quarry, a dairy farm, a post office, a mill, and a dance hall. The school closed in 1927 and has been used for the last 60 years for village suppers and weddings. Today the village is largely residential, and in March, residents of the town of Mount Desert voted to give the school to the society for a museum.

If fund raising continues to be successful, Roths said, construction is slated to begin this May on a 1,000-square-foot building behind the school. Restoration of the schoolhouse will begin in the fall of 1999. The society hopes to open the new facility in the summer of 2000.