Press

The Root Schoolhouse has been featured in several publications.

CATV, White River Junction’s cable access station serving the Upper Valley communities of Vermont and New Hampshire, was one of our partners in the production of the “Back to School” and remains interested in the schoolhouse’s survival.  We are grateful for CATV’s partnership.  Click here to watch a five-minute update from December 2016, produced by Emily Potts

The Root District Game Club’s efforts to repair the schoolhouse’s foundation began decades ago, and local media has been interested in this effort for nearly just as long.  In this Granite State Gazette article from January 17, 1975, Game Club co-president Robert Ladd reports being surprised by the terrific response to that year’s successful “save-the-schoolhouse” appeal: “We think it’s kind of beneficial to the community to keep a place which can be used for a variety of purposes…. Years ago, people used to use their community churches and schoolhouses, and maybe they’re coming back to it.  Maybe people are more interested in staying closer to home.”  Click Here to read the article.

As early as 2004 The Norwich Times featured the article, “Who is the Root District?” in which the active members of the Root District Community Club, as it was called then, lamented the poor condition of the schoolhouse and its collapsing foundation.

In the Winter/Spring 2012 issue Peter H. Brink member of Norwich’s Historic Preservation Commission wrote “Born Again: Norwich’s Two Last One-Room School Houses” about the Beaver Meadow School House and the Root District School House. This article is a detailed history Norwich’s 20 such early one-room schoolhouses of which these two are the only remaining. ” The importance of these two remaining schoolhouses was not lost on the Commission which applied to the Vermont Division for Historic Preservationfor a matching grant to prepare nominations of both for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.” Both schoolhouses received this well-deserved designation in 2013

Nicola Smith wrote a June 2015 article about the premiere of “Back to School: Lessons from Norwich’s One-Room Schoolhouses,” as well as the history of Root Schoolhouse and the Game Club’s current efforts to save it: click here to read the article

The Norwich Times regularly covers our progress to preserve Root Schoolhouse. See the Winter/Spring 2020 issue: click here to read the article (see page 12), the Holiday 2016 issue: click here to read the article, and the Summer 2015 issue: click here to read the article.

The Valley News consistently keeps track of Norwich’s schoolhouses. A photo of renovation work in the summer of 2019 was included in their August 30, 2019 issue: click here to see the photo.

The Root Schoolhouse and Courtney Dobyns were featured in a Vermont Public Radio (VPR) piece titled “Rural Towns Fixing Up Historic Buildings to Strengthen Community Ties.” Click here to read or listen to the piece.

Boston-based Historic New England, our partner in the documentary about Norwich’s schoolhouses and the nation’s oldest, largest, and most comprehensive regional heritage organization, placed Root Schoolhouse on the cover of the Winter 2015 edition of its magazine.  This is the first time a Vermont building has ever been on the cover of this magazine since it was first published in 2000.  Thanks to photographer Jack Rowell for capturing this brilliant image.  Click Here to read the article.

A wonderful profile of Root Schoolhouse is included in the winter 2014/2015 edition of Here in Hanover.  Thanks to Mark Dantos, the writer, and Jim Mauchly, the photographer, for their terrific work and interest in the building.  Thanks as well to Deborah Thompson, the editor, for her interest and for allowing us to share the article on our website.  Click Here to read the article.