hosted by the Oak Summit School Historical Society in Kingwood Township.
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Oak Summit Schoolhouse
Saturday, 17 October 2026
There is an event at the one-room schoolhouse today, an open house and yard sale
hosted by the Oak Summit School Historical Society in Kingwood Township.
There are a trio of historical sites at Route 519 and Oak Summit Road: a cemetery, a church, and the schoolhouse.
Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons, taken February 2018
Oak Summit Cemetery in the foreground, Old Stone Meeting House now Unitarian Universalist Church,
and off to the right, the modest, gray, one room Oak Summit Schoolhouse.
Oak Summit Cemetery was established in 1754 for the Presbyterian church, on the south side of Oak Summit Road.
It contains the remains of five veterans of the American Revolution, and at least four Civil War Veterans, and the
graves of many early pioneers and prominent citizens of Kingwood Township. The last known burial was in 1914.
The original church building was replaced in 1837 by the Old Stone Meeting House,
using some of the stones from the old church. It is now a Unitarian Universalist Church.
Oak Summit School was established in 1849. The schoolhouse was built about 1869 on land donated by the Hoff family.
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The pump (still working today) which provided water may be seen outside the building. The outhouse is not longer extant.
Housing 40 students in grades one through eight, all taught by one teacher.
all together in a 30 foot by 40 foot schoolhouse, built at a cost of $400.
An Estate Heatrola stove that could burn wood or coal, and
quite capable of warming the schoolhouse on the coldest winter days.
School curriculum would be dependent on what textbooks were widely available for instruction:
subjects such as English: reading and spelling. Mathematics, the sciences, history, moral philosophy.
It was intriguing to see a piano in the school room. A luxury, I would think.
Keeping it tuned in the fluctuating temperatures of solid fuel parlor-type stoves.
But what fun to have sing alongs, especially for the Glorious Fourth or Christmas.
Oak Summit School served as a primary school for the area for over 70 years, being used almost continuously until 1953 when Kingwood Township consolidated its one-room schoolhouses. Abandoned, the building fell into disrepair until restored by the historical society. Today, the Oak Summit School Historical Society is dedicated to maintaining the school's legacy by organizing educational programs, exhibits, and community events.
If you have any comments or questions, you can e-mail me: jgglatt@gmail.com
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