Vandals hit school museum

Several years ago when I wrote the “Out of the Past” column in The Republican Journal, I wrote one which the Journal titled, “Senseless vandalism.” Nothing much has changed, except that another generation of vandals has evolved.

On my daily walk on Sunday, I met Yvonne R., also out for a

walk. She pointed out the front broken window of Greer’s Corner Schoolhouse.

Let me back up and relate the events of Greene Plantation Historical Society. We organized as a historical society in April 1989. Around 1991, Yvonne and her mother, Marjorie, gave, in trust, the Greer’s Corner one-room schoolhouse, to be preserved as a one-room school museum. The members worked diligently raising money to replace the old windows, most being sponsored by family members of former students, many of whom are not with us anymore. Mary Jean and Leigh Smith installed and painted the windows and the protective wire mesh over them.

The members had yard sales and craft fairs, sometimes in the rain. They encouraged members and former students’ families to donate supplies and money for upkeep and insurance. More recently the town of Belmont has helped. The first year of the assistance, the liability insurance jumped from $100 to $250, annually. For a struggling society, this makes it hard to stay in existence.

Three years ago, the members enlisted the aid of the Waldo County Sheriff’s Department, in their corrections department, in which the inmates do their community service by projects such as painting. They scraped and painted the whole building in two or three days. The historical society, and the community as a whole, were very proud of “the Jewel of Belmont.”

Again, to back up to 1972, the bell atop the schoolhouse was stolen. There were rumors as to who stole the bell, but it was never found.

The historical society has hosted several school classes, of varying ages, at the school, showing how school was kept in the ago. Greer’s Corner School was used until the early 1950s, being closed nearly 50 years.

It was built in 1908 by Edmund Brewster. A newspaper clipping at the time said Brewster’s carpentry was “second to none,” a fact that was borne out when the Briggs brothers put up a new ceiling for us and said that the building, which was build on ledge, was still truly square, off less than an inch.

The building needs shingling, but Bob M. patched a hole in the roof, either a bullet hole, or by the thieves who stole the bell. The roof did not leak after the patching.

We’ve had vandalism since the beginning. Vehicles have spun around the yard after rain, deliberately spinning mud onto the building. We’ve had mud slung at the building, and someone spray-painted graffiti on the building and shot holes in the new windows.

That brings us up to this weekend, apparently Saturday night. Someone threw a large rock at the front window, with such force that it shattered the glass and flung it across the entire building, breaking every pane in the top sash. Again, with such force that it went through the mesh protective wire covering, smashing the lower sash, and breaking every pane in that one also. The windows facing the Back Belmont Road have been shot at. One of the windows on the backside of the adjoining outhouse has been completely smashed out by a piece of plant, which is, along with the rock, inside the building.

Surely someone saw some of this going on. These are busy roads these days. Does anyone know how much heartache and helplessness this causes? Is it done by local vandals?

Last spring our lupine and tree in the front lawn were razed and vandalized. It would appear that great force was used to smash out these windows, so it probably was older boys. If you know anything about this senseless vandalism, contact a member of the historical society, the town office, or the Waldo County Sheriff’s Department.

Isabel Morse Maresh lives in Belmont.