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| Established | 1963 |
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| Location | Mount Hanley, Annapolis County, Nova Scotia Canada |
| Type | community schoolhouse museum |
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The Mount Hanley Schoolhouse Museum is a community museum located in a historic one-room school in Mount Hanley, Annapolis County, Nova Scotia. The museum focuses on the history of Mount Hanley and surrounding communities as well as rural school life and the famous mariner Joshua Slocum who attended the school in the 1850s.
The school was built in 1850. It replaced an earlier log schoolhouse and became officially known as "The Mount Hanley School Section No. 10". The school house was part of a large-scale expansion of rural schools in Nova Scotia in the 1850s led by the province's first Superintendent of Schools, William Dawson. An early famous student was Joshua Slocum who was born on a farm just to the west of the school. Slocum learned to read and write at the school, attending until he was eight years old when his family moved to Brier Island in 1854. Another significant student was Clara Belle Marshall, who in 1884 became the first woman to graduate from Acadia University. A Mount Hanley student who followed in her footsteps was Ora Blossom Elliott who graduated from Acadia University in 1906 and wrote a valuable history of early Mount Hanley in 1909. A small community library was established in the school in the 1930s. The school taught all grades until 1949 when students who passed Grade Six began to attend the newly built Middleton Regional High School. The Mount Hanley School closed in 1963 when rural schools were consolidated into larger schools in town. Henceforth, Mount Hanley children were bused to a new elementary school in Lawrencetown.
Born at Mount Hanley on February 20, 1844. Joshua Slocum attended this school until the age of eight when he moved with his family to Brier Island. From humble beginnings emerged a superb seaman, destined to become the first person to sail alone around the world. His life epitomizes courage, determination honesty and the strength to live his dreams, squarely facing the challenges to achieve success. In his own words, “To succeed in anything at all, one should go understandingly about his work and be prepared for every emergency.” The Joshua Slocum Centennial Society of Nova Scotia to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of his epic voyage around the world in 1895 placed a memorial at the Schoolhouse Museum.
Alton and Laurette Barteaux, who lived beside the school, bought the building and all its contents when it closed in 1963. They established a private museum named the Mount Hanley Schoolhouse Museum. As the school's contents were never dispersed, the Barteaux family was able to preserve all the books, desks, maps and fittings of 124 years of schooling including school registers dating back to 1894. They added artifacts from other schoolhouses in the area as well as artifacts from Mount Hanley families. The museum was open by appointment and over the years was featured in several books about Joshua Slocum. In 1995 the school was registered as a provincial heritage property, earning provincial significance as an especially well preserved early schoolhouse in addition to the association with Joshua Slocum and Clara Belle Marshall.
On June 1, 2005, the Mount Hanley and District Schoolhouse Museum Society was formed to continue to preserve the building and keep it open to the public. Alton and Laurette Barteaux donated the school to the society in 2006. The museum is open to the public in the summer, staffed by volunteers. Plans are being made to upgrade museum displays and further catalogue the school's collection.
The building is regarded as one of the earliest and best-preserved examples of the standard school design developed by William Dawson. The provincial education pioneer, who later became a noted geologist and president of McGill University, carefully researched school design. Dawson was influenced by the American educator and reformer Henry Barnard's, 1842 book "School Architecture" In 1850 Dawson published a pamphlet entitled, "School Architecture; abridged from Barnard's School Architecture". The Mount Hanley school faithfully reflects Dawson's principles and stands as a little-changed early example of a design that was later built in countless other Maritime communities. The school's exterior has remained almost unchanged since 1850, with the only significant alteration being a small woodshed added in 1892. Even the carved initials of many generations of Mount Hanley students can still be seen in the wooden shingles. Gradual changes took place in the interior as new blackboards were installed and cast iron desks were added. However, three of the original handmade wooden desks were retained at the school, known as "Dawson Desks" as they were made to Dawson's specifications. One of the original slate blackboards has also survived.
The schoolhouse is located on its original site, on the east side of the Mount Hanley Road facing Brown Road about nine kilometres northwest of the town of Middleton. It is today a quiet country corner on the North Mountain but was a busy and prominent location in 1850. A store and two mills operated close to the school drawing on a Mill Pond where local tradition holds that Joshua Slocum made his first sea voyage paddling a washtub.
The museum is affiliated with: CMA, CHIN, and Virtual Museum of Canada.
https://web.archive.org/web/20120325033941/http://www.mounthanleyschoolhousemuseum.ca/
Acadia University is a public, predominantly undergraduate university located in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada, with some graduate programs at the master's level and one at the doctoral level. The enabling legislation consists of the Acadia University Act and the Amended Acadia University Act 2000.
The Annapolis Valley is a valley and region in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. It is located in the western part of the Nova Scotia peninsula, formed by a trough between two parallel mountain ranges along the shore of the Bay of Fundy. Statistics Canada defines the Annapolis Valley as an economic region, composed of Annapolis County, Kings County, and Hants County.
Nova Scotia is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
Hants County is a historical county and census division of Nova Scotia, Canada. Local government is provided by the West Hants Regional Municipality, and the Municipality of the District of East Hants.
Annapolis County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia located in the western part of the province located on the Bay of Fundy. The county seat is Annapolis Royal.
Joshua Slocum was the first person to sail single-handedly around the world. He was a Nova Scotian-born, naturalised American seaman and adventurer, and a noted writer. In 1900 he wrote a book about his journey, Sailing Alone Around the World, which became an international best-seller. He disappeared in November 1909 while aboard his boat, the Spray.
Bridgewater is a town in Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia, Canada, at the navigable limit of the LaHave River. With a 2021 population of 8,790, Bridgewater is the largest town in the South Shore region.
Brier Island is an island in the Bay of Fundy in Digby County, Nova Scotia.
The Acadia Students' Union represents the undergraduate students at Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada. They are a member of the Canadian Alliance of Students Associations (CASA) and StudentsNS.
The Dominion Atlantic Railway was a historic railway which operated in the western part of Nova Scotia in Canada, primarily through an agricultural district known as the Annapolis Valley.
The Nova Scotia Teachers College (NSTC) was a normal school located in the Canadian town of Truro, Nova Scotia.
Sir John William Dawson (1820–1899) was a Canadian geologist and university administrator.
The history of Nova Scotia covers a period from thousands of years ago to the present day. Prior to European colonization, the lands encompassing present-day Nova Scotia were inhabited by the Mi'kmaq people. During the first 150 years of European settlement, the region was claimed by France and a colony formed, primarily made up of Catholic Acadians and Mi'kmaq. This time period involved six wars in which the Mi'kmaq along with the French and some Acadians resisted the British invasion of the region: the French and Indian Wars, Father Rale's War and Father Le Loutre's War. During Father Le Loutre's War, the capital was moved from Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, to the newly established Halifax, Nova Scotia (1749). The warfare ended with the Burying the Hatchet ceremony (1761). After the colonial wars, New England Planters and Foreign Protestants immigrated to Nova Scotia. After the American Revolution, Loyalists immigrated to the colony. During the nineteenth century, Nova Scotia became self-governing in 1848 and joined the Canadian Confederation in 1867.
Sambro Island Lighthouse is a landfall lighthouse located at the entrance to Halifax Harbour, Nova Scotia, on an island near the community of Sambro in the Halifax Regional Municipality. It is the oldest surviving lighthouse in North America and its construction is a National Historic Event.
Mount Hanley is a Canadian rural community in Annapolis County, Nova Scotia. It is the birthplace of the mariner Joshua Slocum and of Clara Belle Marshall, the first woman to graduate from Acadia University in 1879.
Higher education in Nova Scotia refers to education provided by higher education institutions. In Canada, education is the responsibility of the provinces and there is no Canadian federal ministry governing education. Nova Scotia has a population of less than one million people, but is home to ten public universities and the Nova Scotia Community College, which offers programs at 13 locations.
Port George is a seaside community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in Annapolis County. It is a former port situated on the Bay of Fundy, 11 km north of Middleton, Nova Scotia just across North Mountain. It sits on the 45th parallel north.
Sylvia D. Hamilton is a Canadian filmmaker, writer, poet, and artist. Based in Nova Scotia, her work explores the lives and experiences of people of African descent. Her special focus is on African Nova Scotians, and especially women. In particular, her work takes the form of documentary films, writing, public presentations, teaching, mentoring, extensive volunteer work and community involvement. She has uncovered stories of struggles and contributions of African Canadians and introduced them to mainstream audiences. Through her work, she exposes the roots and the presence of systemic racism in Canada. She aims to provide opportunities for Black and Indigenous youth through education and empowerment.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Nova Scotia:
44°58′06″N65°10′24″W / 44.96833°N 65.17333°W
