Description of Historic Place

The Port Hill School is a large, single gable, wood shingle clad schoolhouse, with a series of large windows on its north elevation. Painted red with white trim, the Port Hill School is located within the Green Park Shipbuilding and Yeo House grounds in Port Hill, Prince Edward Island.

Heritage Value

The Port Hill School is valued as for its connection with the educational history of the province, as a representative example of early rural schoolhouse architecture, for its long association with the Arethusa Craft Guild, and as an integral part of the interpretation of the Green Park Shipbuilding Museum and Yeo House -- one of the seven sites of the Prince Edward Island Museum and Heritage Foundation.

A school was established at Port Hill in 1839 with A.C. Bechford as teacher with 37 pupils. In 1847-48, the school building was in very poor condition and the school inspector recommended a new building be constructed, and by 1849 a new school was built. This early school was also used for church services by Rev. H.B. Swabey, Anglican Rector of the Parish of Port Hill from 1853-1869. In 1868, the School Inspector once again noted the school was in poor repair and in 1874, recommended a new structure.

A number of new schoolhouses were constructed in 1876, including this Port Hill school. As with many small rural schools, the Port Hill School closed under the school amalgamation in 1971-1972. In 1973, the Arethusa Craft Guild acquired the building. The Guild was formed in 1963 by a group of West Prince County residents involved in the fabric arts of knitting, sewing, rug hooking, weaving, and other crafts and used the building for classes and a shop. The group re-shingled the roof, replaced windows, painted and made other repairs to the building. After 24 years, the Arethusa Craft Guild members voted in 1987 to donate the school to the Green Park Development Corporation / Friends of Green Park. The donation was finalized in 2000 and the Friends moved the school to Green Park in June 2001 where it is open to the public and contributes to the interpretation of the museum site.

Some repairs and repainting of the schoolhouse were undertaken in 2002 and again in 2016.

A tangible reminder the of importance of the many rural one-room schoolhouses which dotted the countryside, located throughout many Prince Edward Island communities, the former Port Hill School continues to be an integral component of the Green Park Shipbuilding Museum and Yeo House museum site.

Source: Heritage Places files, Department of Economic Growth, Tourism and Culture, Charlottetown, PE File # : 4310-20/P49

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of the Port Hill School shown in the following character-defining elements:

- the size and massing of the schoolhouse
- the wood shingle cladding
- the series of six, large wood, multi-paned windows on the north elevation
- the mulit-paned windows on the east façade
- the diamond shaped, four-paned window in the gable peak of the east façade
- the "Port Hill School" sign on the gable end

Further contributing character-defining elements:

- the setting of the Port Hill School on the grounds of the Green Park Shipbuilding Museum and Yeo House museum site
- original interior features including the wood mill work, wall and ceiling paneling, and paneled doors