Mystery One-Room Schoolhouse drawn by Cliff Satterthwaite
Cliff Satterthwaite provided this plein-air pencil drawing of a York County one-room schoolhouse; drawn about 1971. It is thought the schoolhouse was in the Dallastown area; at least until it burnt down about one year after Cliff made this sketch.
Cliff was not exactly sure where the schoolhouse was located, however he remembered the person, that showed him the schoolhouse, was from Dallastown. Cliff provided the contact and I made a visit, however their memory was not good enough to pinpoint a location.
Across the bottom of the sketch, Cliff wrote “Burnt down about 1 year after this sketch By, you guessed, Vandals.” Cliff did not know if the sign about the front door, “Bate Hill School,” could be used to provenance the schoolhouse. Was the sign faded in 1971, with not all letters visible? Was this a sign put up by a resident after the building ceased being a schoolhouse? Did a later resident, replace one of the side windows with the back door?
I evaluated all the one-room-schoolhouses in York Township and eliminated the ones still standing and the ones known to be of brick or stone construction. The remaining schoolhouses are possibilities for Cliff’s sketch: Blymire’s, Hickory, Keener’s, Kohler’s, Nace’s, Sprenkle’s or Taylor’s.
I examined my one-room-schoolhouse indexes. There was no “Bate Hill School,” however “Battle Hill School” was only two letters difference. The Battle Hill School was in Chanceford Township, southeast of Dallastown. It was of wood construction and it no longer stands; so it fits the profile of the school Cliff sketched.
If any of my readers can help identify the one-room schoolhouse that Cliff Satterthwaite sketched, please comment. The following artwork was done by Cliff, based upon his sketch. Readers responded … see this post: Cliff Satterthwaite’s Artwork of Battle Hill One-Room Schoolhouse; “City Slickers” Fox Hunt in Chanceford Township.
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